BECK OF THE BALL
OBJ’s career day saves Giants in huge win over Ravens
On a day where the Giants honored their past, they turned in a performance that’ll go straight into the history books.
The fullhouse at MetLife Stadium not only got to witness an on-field reunion featuring dozens of players from past and present, but were treated to an incredible, see-saw contest against the Baltimore Ravens in which Big Blue came out on top, 27-23, after Eli Manning and Odell Beckham, Jr. stole the show in the second half.
Beckham set a new career high with 222 receiving yards on eight receptions, but his 75-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter helped set the stage for another 66-yard scoring strike with 1:24 left in the fourth that sealed an incredible victory for a team that didn’t even manage a first down until midway through the second quarter.
The Giants are now 3-3 heading into their game against the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday, which will be played in London.
“Once you take that trip and get over there, things are going to be off a little bit ... we have a good team, good leadership and we’ll handle that and make sure we’re prepared,” Manning said. “But we have to know it is a work trip when we get over there. We have to do everything we can to prepare while we’re here in the States.”
As for Sunday, Joe Flacco and the Ravens had the Giants on the ropes early on, and were off to both a 10-0 lead and seemingly easy win. But the defense would bend, but not break, leaving Flacco lamenting what could have been.
“It’s tough,” he said. “You get ahead that early, and you have our defense making those stops, you’d definitely like to add another score there and make it 17 (points) or more. We had the opportunities to do it, but a lot of the times penalties ended up hurting us.”
The key play for the defensive front came on the first play of the fourth quarter. With the Giants up 1713, Ravens coach John Harbaugh decided to go for it on fourth and one from the one-yard line, but running back Terrance West was stuffed by linebackers Jonathan Casillas and Mark Herzlich after an ill-fated pitch to the left side.
But Beckham was the story all game, finally putting together the breakthrough performance he’d been waiting for all year. As it typically goes for him, however, it didn’t come easily.
The third-year pro fumbled on the Giants’ first offensive play of the game, and it was unclear if he’d even play in the second half after suffering a hip pointer after a hard fall going up for a pass with 6:40 remaining in the first half; he came back for one play, then retreated to the locker room.
The tide began to turn, ironically enough, with Beckham out of the game. Roger Lewis, Jr., who was only in the game because the star receiver was getting treatment, hauled in his first career touchdown reception with 2:28 remaining in the first half from 24 yards out, which was also Manning’s 300th career touchdown pass.
With the score 10-7 at the half, Beckham returned for the final 30 minutes of the contest, and ultimately caught six passes for 211 yards during that timespan. But it was his last one that was the gamebreaker; Manning found him open up the middle on the fourth play of a drive that came just after Terrance West had put the Ravens back on top with a two-yard touchdown run with 2:04 left in regulation.
“He is a playmaker, he is a game changer and did that, he did exactly that today,” Casillas said. “That is the ‘13’ that I see all the time and I see that at practice and he showed it today. We all know what kind of player he is and he had one of those days today where he was just kind of unstoppable. Hats off to him, he has been getting a lot of criticism lately and he showed up.”
Manning continues to ascend through the record books — he ended the game seventh all-time in passing touchdowns with 302 for his career, and also completed the eighth 400-yard game of his career on Sunday — but Beckham got the headlines not only for his performance, but his dances with the kicking net that had betrayed him in tougher times.
After his first score, he pulled the net on top of himself to celebrate, then proposed to it after his second. Beckham made light of his interactions with the net, which famously sprung back and hit him during a fit of frustration earlier this year, after the game.
“Our relationship is growing,” he jokingly explained. “I thought we might as well make it serious. I proposed and she said yes. Me and the net are going to get married sometime soon. Hopefully, it all works out. I’m 23, so I don’t know much about marriage. She seems like a pretty nice gal.”
Baltimore, however, chose to focus on what he did on the field.
“Odell made some amazing plays out there, and you’ve got to credit him,” said Ravens safety Eric Weddle. “We held him down in the first half ... but we just didn’t get the job done.”