New York Giants: Odell Beckham Jr. Says What Everyone Is Thinking

Sunday featured a heartbreaking loss for the New York Giants, who went down to their rivals from Philadelphia after blowing a lead going into the second half. The team scored 19 points in the first half but couldn’t replicate the performance after halftime, ending the game with only three more points than they originally went into the locker room with.

Strangely, it happened partly because they didn’t use Saquon Barkley as much in the second half, despite the running back looking set to have a big day. The fact has been pointed out by all corners of the fanbase as evidence that head coach Pat Shurmur doesn’t quite know what he’s doing, but it seems even some players on the team are dissatisfied with the offensive playcalling in the second half.

Even influential players like Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham’s comments referred to the Eagles secondary rather than the ground game, but were still about the playcalling and the lack of a real effort to take the initiative and go after the defense.

“Knowing they were struggling [with injuries] in the secondary, personally I would’ve loved to attack them. But that wasn’t in our game plan,” Beckham said after the game. Beckham led the team in both receptions and receiving yards with 5 catches and 85 yards, but couldn’t catch the ball in the end zone for a play that could have won the game for the Giants.

Beckham did have a chance to do that near the end of the game, and it appeared that his jersey had been pulled by the cornerback on the play, which ended as an incompletion. It looked like a missed call, and when the referee didn’t throw the flag for pass interference, the Giants were robbed of a chance to move closer and have a fresh set of tries to get the ball in for a score.

The Giants wouldn’t have been in a position where they needed a touchdown on that drive, however, if they had made better adjustments. Philadelphia’s superior adjustments at halftime were also mentioned by Beckham. “They came out and made their adjustments and they just made better adjustments than we did. They ran better plays. They made the plays.”

The coaching staff is really the only area you can point fingers at after this. Hopefully, this game is one bad outing that can be used as an example of what not to do in the future, rather than an indication of the skill or lack thereof in that department.