Odell: Bucs knew our pass routes
YOU ASK Odell Beckham Jr. about his drops, four of them already, and he tells you: My bad.
And coach Ben McAdoo’s predictable offense as well.
“I was talking to Coach today,” Beckham said Wednesday, “and the routes that we’re running and the [Buccaneers] DBs — I talked to them after the game. They were like, ‘We know you’re running a certain route.’ So, it was just me putting extra onto a route, just trying to create more space and I kind of have to trust myself more in the sense that when I make my break, not everybody is going to be able to come out and close that little gap.”
Beckham, for reasons known only to Beckham, chose to reveal a postgame conversation last Sunday with Bucs cornerback Vernon Hargreaves.
“I mean, they study film,” Beckham said. “I was talking to Hargreaves after the game and he was just like, ‘You know, we know a lot of what you’re doing.’
“But, it still just comes to the point where you have to trust it. We have to trust 10 [Eli Manning] to make the throw like he did, not put anything extra on [the route], because if I didn’t put something extra on it, the timing probably would have been perfectly right. I didn’t get my head around fast enough, but we’ll be all right.”
Beckham’s motivation is open to question. This is likely Beckham being Beckham more than it is Beckham throwing McAdoo under the Big Blue bus — which doesn’t jibe with John Mara sitting him down last week following that Stupid Pet Trick in Philadelphia and Beckham’s desire to land a monster contract that would make him a Giant for life.
Nevertheless, no coach likes hearing a player, much less a star player, spilling these kind of beans in public. Especially when you’re 0-4.
McAdoo’s offense — alternately kneecapped by the offensive line and the absence of a running game and an elite receiver opposite Beckham — has actually made strides the past two games and is riding a two-game streak scoring more than 20 points (Sing hallelujah)!
“We were 11-5 last year and we were running the same thing,” Beckham said. “It wasn’t a problem last year when we were winning games. So, it’s just a matter of execution, really.”
The Giants were 11-5 last season mostly because of the defense carrying an offense that averaged just 19.4 points per game. The 2017 Giants are averaging 15 ppg this season, tied for 30th with the Ravens.
McAdoo is looking to simplify things to get the players to play faster and smarter.
“Be better than them,” Beckham said. “You know I’m running a slant. Beat me on a slant. Do it. I don’t see you doing it. That’s just what it has to be. ... It’s not that we’re pressing, but now is the time.”
Now, as the 0-4 Chargers come to town Sunday, is the time to put up and shut up. It’s past time.
“I don’t see myself tanking,” Beckham said. “I don’t see myself giving in, and honestly, I feel like this was the breaking point for us. This is going to be the turnaround. This is going to be where things start to go our way. We start to make plays. We do all that. I’m fully confident in us doing what we have to do to get to where we need to be at.
“So, there’s no real walking around here with your head down. There’s none of that. Definitely not myself, and I tell each and every one of my teammates: Head up like a nose bleed. Keep it moving, stick together. Got 12 more games. What do you want to do in them? It’s up to us.”
Rest assured Beckham has not lost any confidence. The pain he feels is more in 0-4 than in his nagging ankle.
“Heads up like a nose bleed,” he reiterated. “Like I said, we’re going to walk around here. You don’t hang your head. For what? OK, you lost a couple games. You’re a man. Adversity tests your manhood. So, let’s see what kind of man you are. Are you going to fold, you going to break, you going to give in or you going to keep pushing? I know that we’re going to keep pushing. I know that for sure.”