Odell Beckham Snaps, Giants Fall Short

Sean Taylor

December 21, 2015

NEW YORK — In his relatively short career, Odell Beckham Jr. has stormed the NFL stage with ridiculous catches, amazing footwork, blazing speed and a penchant for making big plays with the game on the line. He’s one of the game’s rising stars and a future face of the sport, if not so already. Accompanying all that, however, has been an aggressive, angry edge to his game that has resulted in numerous penalties, questionable after-the-whistle antics, and even involvement in a brawl versus the St. Louis Rams.

But Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers brought this behavior to a new level, and perhaps crossed the line to the point where it cannot be glossed over, even when compared to his sterling football plays. Locked in a game-long battle with Carolina’s emerging star corner Josh Norman, Beckham allowed Norman to get under his skin, to the tune of three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, the most detestable of which was a peel-back, head-hunting, helmet-to-helmet hit that should have resulted in an ejection but somehow did not.

image via CBS Sports

Let’s be honest here: Norman was trying to make Beckham angry. I’m sure there was an avalanche of trash talk, some cheap shots, some post-play physicality Norman incited, a time-honored gamesmanship aspect of the position charged with trying to limit arguably the most physically talented player in the game. Beckham of course didn’t want to back down, and so was sucked into a 60 minute fistfight instead of playing football, a fact evidenced by his zero first half catches and almost complete disappearance for much of the game. The easy narrative here is to paint Beckham as an angry young man, but Norman is no angel either. Had there been a proper referee intervention, this might have gone down as just another rivalry between two star athletes.

image via www.eurweb.com

But Beckham took things a step further. In a game that rewards both ferocity and aggression, Beckham’s actions clearly crossed the line from “sport” to “fight”, a willful desire to injure an opponent. Both the severity and the continuing nature of the scuffles warranted an ejection of one or both of the players, if only so the referees remained in control of the game, yet this child-like behavior by both was allowed to continue to the point where serious injury could have and probably should have occurred. For all the NFL makes of their emphasis on player safety, ejecting those players who lose control during a game seems like a basic first step.

Lost amid the fight between Beckham and Norman was an entertaining football game with playoff implications, as the Giants stormed back to turn a blowout game into a narrow three point Carolina win. With the loss, the Giants cede control the NFC East to the victorious Redskins, while Carolina moves one step closer to locking up the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

***UPDATE*** Earlier today NFL announced that it will indeed suspend Beckham for one game, for his actions during yesterday’s game in which he drew three personal foul penalties. Beckham has appealed the suspension and it will be heard by either James Thrash or Derrick Brooks, the hearing officers jointly appointed by the NFL and the players’ union.