Beckham to miss game
LANDOVER, Md. — The Giants unexpectedly and abruptly ruled Odell Beckham Jr. (bruised quad) out of Sunday’s game at Washington with a news release at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Beckham did not even travel with the team, despite head coach Pat Shurmur definitively saying “he’s playing” after Friday’s practice. Beckham, in fact, wasn’t even listed on the Friday injury report as a player whose status was in question at all.
Only linebackers Tae Davis and B.J. Goodson were listed as questionable. No other Giants player appeared on the injury report.
Beckham, it turns out, originally hurt his leg on the final play of the Giants’ Nov. 25 loss in Philadelphia, when Eagles linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill leg-whipped Beckham in the left shin to cut him down. Beckham landed on his left thigh. No flag was thrown on the play.
But the fact that Beckham got injured on that play wasn’t made public until Friday.
Beckham was not listed on any of the Giants’ injury reports the week following the Eagles loss. He played and scored two touchdowns in a subsequent home win over the Bears. And then Beckham wasn’t listed on on the Giants’ injury report this Wednesday or Thursday, nor did he mention any injury in his Thursday interview with local reporters.
On Friday morning, though, Beckham revealed in a preview of his weekly “I AM OBJ” Facebook video series that “I got a little sore quad, kinda contusion thing.” Beckham added, “I still feel good,” but said he was hurt when he got leg-whipped at the end of the Philly game.
When Friday’s practice ended, Shurmur announced that Beckham had been limited Friday and for the first time mentioned what the coach called a “lingering” injury.
Asked if Beckham still would play on Sunday in Washington, Shurmur said: “He’s playing.”
The Giants did not list Beckham on the final injury report. And yet by 1 p.m. Saturday, they had ruled him out, saying: “It was determined (Saturday) morning he would not play in (Sunday’s) game.”