‘O’ ISN’T A $90M
The Giants need to get the ball to Odell
Odell Beckham Jr. barely saw the ball last Sunday in Dallas, but as a decoy, he opened two big second-half plays for teammates Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram.
Beckham ran one endaround through the backfield, and another midrange route over the mid- dle, to draw defensive backs’ attention from Eli Manning’s true targets on a 14-yard completion to Shepard and an 18-yard touchdown pass to Engram.
That is how good Beckham is.
He doesn’t even need the ball to wreck a defense. And the Giants’ play-callers, coach Pat Shurmur and offensive coordinator Mike Shula, have built that realization into their arsenal.
“He can be very dangerous as a — I hate to use the word ‘decoy’ — but as a take-peopleaway-from-the-focus-of-yourplay (guy),” offensive coordinator Mike Shula said with a smirk Thursday.
The Giants didn’t pay Beckham $90 million to be a decoy, however, and Shula says don’t kid yourself: OBJ as decoy is Option B. Option A this coming Sunday in Houston, and every week, is the obvious.
“We want to obviously get him the ball,” Shula said, “and get him involved early.”
To that suggestion, Beckham on Thursday happily acquiesced.
“I don’t mind (that plan),” Beckham said with a smile.
The problem, of course, is that after Beckham’s Week 1 debut of 15 targets, 11 catches and 111 yards against Jacksonville, he was almost non-existent in the Giants’ offense in Week 2 in Dallas (four catches, 51 yards). He saw only nine targets. Four of them came in garbage time after the Giants had fallen behind, 20-3, with 5:45 to play.
And while Beckham was not lashing out in frustration on Thursday, he certainly was not echoing the seemingly misplaced optimism of Manning and Shurmur that this Giants’ offense looks “close” to clicking.
“Um, it wasn’t as close as the first week,” Beckham said of his Cowboys film review ahead of a must-win for the Giants (0-2) on Sunday at the Texans (0-2).
It’s hard to blame Beckham for his dismay. Against Dallas he went without a target from the 6:01 mark of the first quarter to the 6:40 mark of the second, then again until 9:38 remained in the third quarter, and yet again until 4:26 remained in the fourth.
It seemed telling of Beckham’s frustration level Thursday, too, as he discussed his progress in handling such trying situations with more grace and patience, indicating the effort it took for him to bottle it up — understandably so.
“It was a tough test,” Beckham said of Sunday. “We made it through. Unfortunately we didn’t get the win, but you always find small wins, small battles, and you can take from that and use that part for some good.”
Shurmur, who has Shula in his ear but calls the plays himself, understands No. 13 is his greatest weapon.
“We’re all aware of the fact that it’s important that he touches the ball early and often,” the head coach said Thursday.
Beckham’s restlessness, though, is driven primarily by the Giants’ constant losing; not just his targets in one game.
Consider: the Giants have lost the last seven games Beckham has played, including the 2016 Wild Card playoff loss in Green Bay. That means the last time Beckham was on the field for a regular season Giants win was Week 17, Jan. 1, 2017, against Washington at MetLife Stadium. That is only a few months away from a two-year drought.
“I don’t remember the last time I won a game was,” Beckham said. “Maybe some cards or something, but not an NFL football game. I haven’t won one in a long time. It’s definitely not a good feeling, not something you come here to do. You don’t come here to lose. You just don’t.”
He’s willing to do whatever it takes, though, to get a ‘W.’
Shula, for example, on Thursday told the Daily News that Beckham’s “attitude has been unbelievable” as a team player willing to run a decoy route — so to speak — to free teammates, or to let someone else take a big shot downfield.
“He’s been unbelievable and he’s totally into it,” Shula said. “Going back to the other (Jacksonville) game, there were some plays, we had critical plays and he knew they were gonna be critical in practice, and he said, ‘No, coach, I’ll play this position. Let Shep take this one.’”
Everyone knows, however, that Beckham is most valuable