OBJ, Big Blue brought to heel by Bucs
TAMPA, Fla. — So in the odd world in which the Giants live, here was a good news/bad news scenario turned upside down.
The good news: Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t come close to flirting with any controversial personal-foul penalties.
The bad: That’s because he was kept out of the end zone all day.
Beckham did have a fine afternoon, catching seven balls (and dropping two others among his 15 targets) for 90 yards, with a long of 42 that helped set up the Giants’ final touchdown. If there was one glaring mistake, it was getting flagged for an “illegal touching” penalty (going out of bounds, then coming back in) that negated the two-point conversion that capped that drive.
Like the rest of his teammates, Beckham was subdued after this discouraging 25-23 loss that dropped the Giants to 0-4.
“We have to go back to work,” Beckham said. “They fought hard for that win and they deserved it today.” He paused. “I would’ve never thought we’d be 0-4,” he said. “But that’s what our record is. You can’t cry about it. We just have to get that first win and go from there.”
Beckham did get a couple of injury scares, once jamming a finger and another time coming down awkwardly on the same leg that kept him out of the Week 1 game with the Cowboys and is probably still keeping his performance at less than 100 percent.
On the finger: “Not the first time. Won’t be the last.”
On the ankle: “I came down in the same motion as when it happened the first time [in the first preseason game]. It scares you for a second but then you overcome it.”
Eli Manning, of course, understands that he’s the biggest beneficiary of all when Beckham is playing at his best, underlined by the big 42yard hit.
“A double move off the safety and he ran a great route,” Manning said. “We put it on him for a big play so he went and got that one. Big play in the game right there, second-and-long and to take a shot and hit it was nice.”
At that moment, Beckham firmly believed he’d helped tilt the game in the Giants’ favor for good.
“You know, you make that play and I expect us to go down and score, which we did,” he said. “Put ourselves in position. But we came up short.”