OBJ ‘thankful’ to make return
It had been a long wait for Odell Beckham Jr.
Eleven months to be exact, dating to last Oct. 8 when he fractured his ankle against the Chargers, ending his 2017 season and robbing him of that season’s final 12 games.
That’s perhaps is why, when the Giants ran through the MetLife Stadium tunnel for their season opener Sunday, Beckham was the first to burst onto the field, looking like he was shot out of a cannon as he sprinted the length of the field to the south end zone and dropped to both knees in a pregame prayer.
If you’re a Giants fan looking for silver linings to their 20-15 loss to the Jaguars, a look at Beckham’s performance — 11 catches for 111 yards and two pass interference penalties drawn adding up to another 45 yards — might soothe what ails you today.
Beckham is back, looking as healthy as ever.
“I’m just thankful to be out there again,’’ Beckham said after the game. “I know I told the story many times, I was in the basement night after night just praying to get back together mentally for the season and allow me to come out and put my best foot forward today.
“I’m just in a different place,’’ he went on. “Once you see everything flash before you and you don’t know if you are going to be the same person again, you don’t know if football is going to be the same again, I got a different perspective. I wish we would have gotten a win, but at the same time it’s a good starting point for our team.’’
Asked to describe his emotions after the game, Beckham said, “I hate losing more than anything. Honestly, I was praying that there was something that happened earlier in the game where I had to dig deep and find out where I’m at on that scale. Things weren’t going my way early, so there was never an opportunity to see that moment.
“In the past there have been a lot of things that have gone on and I haven’t had the best way of handling it. I was hoping there was a moment where I was tested, and I was going to able to see where I’ve grown and how much growth there has been. I don’t know if I need the moment, it’s just something inside that I have grown with.’’
Asked if he believes he’s the same player he was before the injury, Beckham said, “I don’t know, I’m hoping to be better. That’s obviously the goal.’’
Much was made of Beckham’s matchup with Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey entering the game. Unlike what some expected, given the high-riding emotions of both players, there appeared to be little in the way of any trash-talking between them.
Ramsey, who was called for one of the two pass interference penalties while trying to cover Beckham, said, “I knew I would be on him a fair amount, but I wasn’t on him 100 percent of the time and I knew it was going to take all 11 guys on de- fense to get the job done.’’
Asked if Beckham’s game-high 11 catches for 111 yards bothered him, Ramsey said, “Oh, that win matters. We won, so I’m good. We’re going home 1-0 and they’re going home 0-1. We knew it was going to be a show out there. We knew it was going to be a good individual matchup. But that’s not what the game was all about.’’
For Beckham, it was about playing football again.