CAN’T MISS THE BOAT
Pressure’s on Beckham to sink or swim in Green Bay
GREEN BAY – What’s next for the Party Boaters? Some ice fishing? Captain Odell Beckham Jr., Chief Officer Victor Cruz and First Mates Sterling Shepard and Roger Lewis cruise into Lambeau Field on Sunday afternoon and as long as they don’t crash into an iceberg on Lake Michigan on their way into town, they should be good to go for the wild-card playoff game against the Packers.
There is pressure on Eli Manning. There is pressure on Aaron Rodgers. It’s a playoff game and they are the quarterbacks.
Nobody has more pressure than Beckham, the Giants’ best player.
“I hope so,” former Giants center Shaun O’Hara said. “Pressure is good.”
If OBJ doesn’t come up with a couple of explosive plays, if he drops an important pass, if he gets a personal foul, if he goes all Josh Norman mode on the Packers, it’s going to be blamed on the Miami trip.
If that night of partying and hanging on the boat in Miami turns into the Titanic or even the SS Minnow, then Beckham is sunk. And rightfully so. The one-day junket to South Beach on the players’ day off last week was designed to accomplish Beckham’s goal of the players getting their minds right for the Giants’ first playoff game in five years.
“There is no argument for that being a good decision,” O’Hara told the Daily News. “It’s not disastrous, but it’s disappointing to do that so close to crunch time. Every player should be able to do what they want on their day off, but if you’re going to do something we’re going to have to talk about as a team for the next three days, it’s probably not a good choice.”
Why hanging with Justin Bieber, being in the same club as the human train wreck Johnny Manziel, not sleeping Sunday night, hanging on a boat when drugs were reportedly on board, was needed to get their minds right when all but Cruz are playing the biggest game of their lives, is not quite clear. But here’s the downside to the trip: If any of these guys, especially Beckham, screw up and drop a key pass that costs the Giants their season, they need to return to Miami and think about picking up a new job on a cruise liner. Beckham has left himself no margin for error. He gets no benefit of the doubt. If he’s not a difference-maker, he will get the Tony Romo/Cabo treatment from nine years ago, only he can’t expect Manning, or Terrell Owens, for that matter, to stand up in the locker room and shed fake tears defending him.
“If they go out and play well, it will be swept under the rug,” said former Giants defensive end Justin Tuck, a two-time Super Bowl champion who was always the conscience of the locker room. “If they don’t, it opens up an opportunity for people to criticize them.”
Tuck says if the Giants players don’t have a problem with the Fab 4’s excellent adventure, then he’s not going to get on them, either. But any
body who thinks Manning really doesn’t care what these guys did hasn’t paid attention to how he puts so much emphasis on preparation. Manning is the team leader, so he had no choice but to back up his teammates at such a crucial time of the year. Criticizing them would be counter-productive. He took one for the team by shifting the attention with a stand-up comedy routine. “Eli defused the bomb, which is what he should do,” said O’Hara, who has one Super Bowl ring. “In 2007, guys got up and said that the parties after we win the Super Bowl will be 10 times better. The parties this week are for everybody else. I would be disappointed if I was on that team and my guys are not realizing the importance of where we are at right now – you’re four weeks away from having three months off.”
Would Tuck ever hit South Beach less than one week before a playoff game? Not a chance.
“That’s not what got me prepared to play in football games,” he said. “I can’t judge what somebody else does just because I wouldn’t do it.”
Ben McAdoo won over the players this season with his new schedule. He broke from NFL tradition and gave players off Monday instead of Tuesday. The idea was to give them a day to rest up after being in a 60-minute high speed collision on Sunday.
Tuesday became a light workday like Monday used to be. Wednesday and Thursday, as usual, were the heavy workdays. Friday became Fresh Friday. McAdoo’s new schedule and a new conditioning
staff helped the Giants get through healthier than they’ve been in years.
McAdoo did a lot of research to discover the best way to have a healthy team for a January run. He even removed Beckham from the game in the third quarter last week in Washington to get him off his feet and, although he didn’t say this, it also prevented Norman from antagonizing Beckham into getting thrown out and perhaps suspended for the playoff game.
Beckham thanked McAdoo by traveling back with the team on the train from Washington and then flying late night to Miami. Instead of spending the day off in the cold tub and the hot tub, Beckham and his guys were pulling all-nighters like they were back in college instead of being professional athletes with so much at stake. It was the epitome of a me-first immature attitude at a time when everybody needs to be accountable.
Of course, Beckham is a fabulous player, the most dynamic player in the league. After three years, it’s safe to say the only person who can get in the way of him becoming
an all-time great is himself.
Can he get there before he implodes?
A couple of weeks ago, linebacker Jonathan Casillas, who won Super Bowls with the Saints and Patriots, addressed the team at practice. The message: This is the only time this team will have a chance to win a Super Bowl together. Rosters change so much each season. So, take advantage of it. In other words … “Don’t be that guy that everybody is talking about,” O’Hara said. “It doesn’t matter what it is, but don’t be that guy. In this case, don’t be those guys.”
Beckham is consistent. On or off the field, he makes himself the focal point. Sometimes, his antics are funny, sometimes they are a result of his incredible passion for the game and his hatred of losing, but sometimes he’s just a distraction and needs to grow up.
His quarterback loves him. He’s not a locker room destroyer. His teammates gravitate towards him. He doesn’t get in trouble off the field.
But really, couldn’t that trip to Miami have waited until the season was over or if McAdoo gives the Giants a few days off during the bye week if they make the Super Bowl?
Now, the Giants have to worry if the SS Beckham is going to slam into an iceberg at Lambeau.