NFL slaps star with 1-game ban Coughlin, Eli defend receiver
OUCH: Odell Beckham Jr., speaking with receivers coach Sean Ryan during Sunday’s loss to the Panthers, received a one-game suspension for his on-field actions.
Bill Kostroun;
Anthony J. Causi
His head coach would not sit him and his teammates refused to criticize him, but Odell Beckham Jr. was put in his place Monday by the NFL, as the star receiver was suspended for one game for his out-of-control antics against the Panthers and cornerback Josh Norman.
Beckham will appeal the suspension and a hearing likely will take place Wednesday. The Giants, 6-8 and on playoff life support, play the Vikings on Sunday night in Minnesota.
If the suspension sticks, Beckham would lose $52, 529, or one-seventeenth of his 2015 salary of $893,009. Beckham, 23, would become the first Giants player ever suspended by the league for an on-field incident. The last player in the league suspended for an on-field incident was Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib, who was banished for one game this season for poking an opponent in the eye.
The appeal will be heard by Derrick Brooks or James Thrash, former NFL players who serve as appeals officers, paid jointly by the league and the NFL Players Association.
Norman, the co-conspirator who initiated the battle with a body slam of Beckham on the game’s first series, did not get suspended. He is expected to get fined by the league for his part in the various altercations.
Beck ham flew into a rage on the field, and the Giants believe their young receiver was jarred in pregame warm-ups by threats from a batwielding Norman and Panthers shouting homophobic slurs at him. He and Norman went at it on the first series of the game, and the battle escalated and deteriorated as the Panthers took a 35-7 lead, though the Giants mounted a furious comeback that fell short in a 38-35 loss. Norman was no innocent victim, but Beckham was the chief offender. He was called for four penalties — three for unnecessary roughness, one for offensive pass interference.
The misdeed that likely led to the suspension happened late in the third quarter on the tail end of a 19-yard gain on a screen pass to Shane Vereen. Beckham, blocking down the field on the outside, charged into the middle of the field and leveled Norman with a vicious helmet-to-helmet launch.
“I didn’t see that particular aspect until I looked at the tape [Monday], and obviously that was a bad play,’’ Giants coach Tom Coughlin said.
Despite Beckham’s obvious loss of composure and all the penalties, Coughlin did not sit the high-strung second-year receiver, not even for a single play. Coughlin said he instructed receivers coach Sean Ryan to calm Beckham down as the situation on the field was deteriorating. Coughlin also said he was u n awa re it was Beckham who was called for the three personal foul pen- alties.
“I don’t watch one player throughout the course of a game,’’ Coughlin said. “Secondly, there’s a young player that’s being educated that quite frankly, is an excellent football player. If we were to have a chance to win the game, I wanted him to be out there — I’ll be honest with you.’’
Coughlin, 69, is squarely on the hot seat, with the Giants likely days away from being eliminated from the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and his job security in question. He said he told the team Monday, “Personal battles have no presence in the game of football, not at any level. They’re a distraction.’’
Coughlin, though, would not take shots at Beckham.
“There are qualities that Odell Beckham, this young man, brings to this football team, the likes of which I’ve never seen, OK?’’ Coughlin said. “I will not defend his actions because they were wrong and this particular franchise and organization does not tolerate that. But I will defend the young man and the quality of the person. I will defend him as long as I’m able.’’
Eli Manning strongly supported his teammate. He said he went over “a few times’’ during the game to talk with Beckham and insinuated the officials could have done a better job to prevent the situation from escalating. He also, uncharacteristically, took a shot at Norman, who ripped Beckham after the game.
“He just cried a little bit so I didn’t think that was really necessary,’’ Manning said of Norman. “I think both those guys were going at it, I don’t think either one was in the right, but I didn’t think one was worse than the other.’’
As far as Beckham as an out-ofcontrol athlete, Coughlin said, “We’ll take care of our business. And we still maintain great, great New York Giant pride.’’