Shep gets his big shot
WR reunited with LSU mate Odell
Russell Shepard and Odell Beckham Jr. last played regular snaps together when Shepard was an LSU senior and Beckham was a Tigers sophomore in 2012.
They also were both on the 2011 LSU team that went 13-0 — commemorated on the Tshirt Shepard wore Friday — before losing to Alabama in the national title game.
“The last time I got to play with Odell Beckham we were like 20, 21,” Shepard, 28, laughed Friday. “I’m extremely excited to go out there and make plays for this team.”
Shepard, signed this offseason as a free agent, played only one offensive snap in last week’s win in Houston and is still looking for his first catch of the season. But the sixthyear veteran may get it Sunday against the Saints filling in for injured starter Cody Latimer (knee), who has been ruled out of the game.
Shepard is prioritizing “consistency,” being a “toughnosed blocker” and “making plays” when the ball is thrown to him. And he knows the opponent: he spent his entire career prior to this season in the Saints’ NFC South division, playing four seasons for Tampa Bay and one for Carolina.
“I’ve played the Saints probably more than anyone in this locker room,” Shepard said. “I understand what they’re capable of. And I definitely feel like my experience with them I can help and do some things … The shots (down the field) will be there. We just have to capitalize and do what’s expected of us: catch the football. It’s as simple as that.’
Pat Shurmur also coached Shepard briefly in Philadelphia when he was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Eagles in 2013. So Shepard’s potential impact leads our Friday Five.
A SEVEN HEAVEN REPEAT?
The last time Shurmur faced the Saints, his Vikings offense beat New Orleans, 2924, on a walk-off touchdown on a Case Keenum pass to Stefon Diggs in last year’s divisional playoff round. The play was dubbed the Minneapolis Miracle.
Shurmur this week refreshed everyone’s memory on the play call: Buffalo right, key left, seven heaven. That’s the formation, the protection and the route concept, respectively.
And yes, it’s still in Shurmur’s playbook.
SNAP JUDGMENT
Minnesota Vikings longsnapper Kevin McDermott lost the tip of his pinky finger after getting it caught between two players’ helmets on Thursday night in Los Angeles. McDermott wrapped his finger, finished the game, then received 16 stitches, per NFL Network, and had a follow-up surgery to repair the damage. Giants long-snapper Zak DeOssie’s response to that story?
“Long-snappers are tough, too,” DeOssie told me with a smile Friday. I asked DeOssie if he had ever played through something that drastic. He said he’s played through a lot, but nothing like that. I mean, who has?
The Giants’ Garrett Dickerson, an undrafted rookie tight end (Northwestern) originally from Englewood, N.J., is expected to make his NFL debut on Sunday for the team he grew up rooting for. He was promoted to the active roster from the practice squad this week in place of the injured Evan Engram.
“I’m ready for it,” Dickerson, 22, said Friday. “It means a lot especially being from the area. I grew up watching the Giants. So it definitely means a lot, to play at home, in the home state I grew up in, it means a lot.”
Dickerson said a key quality he believes he has shown throughout his career is “versatility.”
“To do different things and be placed in multiple positions; I think that was my biggest thing coming out of college,” Dickerson said. “I had a lot of different roles, and I’m just trying to bring those same attributes to the team now.”
It will be Ellison, Dickerson and Scott Simonson at tight end for the Giants.