Will Beatty at 6 feet 6 looks down on most humans, and he was scoffing the other day as a small group from a large scrum around Eli Manning broke off and headed toward his locker.
“Who you just come from?’’ Beatty asked sternly, peering down, knowing full well which of his teammates had previously commanded so much attention. When he was reassured it was Manning, Beatty feigned jealousy and bellowed, “I block for him.’’
There was a time not long ago when that statement was met with derision and great concern from Giants fans wondering if their team had a left tackle capable of keeping the heat off the franchise quarterback. Beatty, a second-round pick from UConn, started all 16 games in 2012 and the Giants were convinced he was the real deal, signing him to a five-year contract worth up to $38.75 million, with $19 million in guaranteed money. For that expenditure, the Giants as payback got a shaky left tackle who in 2013 allowed 10 sacks and admitted he did a terrible job trying to earn the fortune he received.
Bad went to worse when Beatty in the season finale had to be carried off the grass at FedEx Field with a fractured right leg, the ensuing surgery assuring he would spend the offseason getting his body right at the expense of getting the football right.
It is no surprise that Beatty, looking back at where he has been and what he has been able to accomplish at the quarter pole of this season, needed only one word to express how relieved and pleased he is that it has all worked out for him.
“Very,’’ he said.
Without a big rebound year from Beatty — he called his 2013 showing “an anomaly’’ — the rebuilt offensive line would have crumbled instead of grown on a weekly basis. Beatty is not everyone’s desired dance partner — he’s more finesse than power, with his athletic footwork often making up for uninspiring upper-body punch — but he has not allowed a sack in the first four games. So far, Pro Football Focus has given Beatty the top grade of any left tackle in the league.
“I kind of remember us talking about the injury Week 1 and me saying I want to put it behind me,’’ Beatty said, “but the best way is to go out there and play and actually have a full game, not let the leg be, you know you can do it but you haven’t done it yet. Just that first game, OK, it wasn’t where you want it to be but you can play a full game. Now do it again. Then we had a Sunday to Thursday game, which was a very short week, that’s telling you your leg can handle most anything right now, there’s nothing you have to worry about.’’
What comes next for Beatty should be fascinating. Osi Umenyoira has 82.5 career sacks, with 75 of them coming during his decade with the Giants and 41.5 already on his résumé when Beatty arrived on the scene in 2009. It is fair to say Umenyiora did more for Beatty than Beatty did for Osi during their four years as teammates.
“It was a guy, [if] you can pass block him you know there’s no one who can beat you outside on the edge, because of his speed and what he’s shown,’’ Beatty said.
Someone somewhere may have the exact number of snaps the two worked against each other in mini-camps, training camps and practices. For the first time, the two get to knock heads for real on Sunday when Umenyiora and the Falcons face Beatty and the Giants.
“Having him work with me and now having a chance to go against him, it’s ‘Let me thank you for all you taught me, go out there and show you what I can do,’ ’’ Beatty said.
Umenyiora, 32, is no longer a starter and as a situational pass-rusher he has been on the field only 35 percent of the time — 100 of the 282 defensive snaps. He does not have a sack this season, his 12th and most likely his last in the NFL. The Giants remember Umenyiora as a fixture on two Super Bowl-winning defensive lines, possessing an impossibly quick first step that often seemed to take off a split second before the snap and for the blind-side assault and clubbing arm motion that produced 35 career forced fumbles.
When it’s second or third and long, Umenyiora will be in the game and it will be Beatty’s job to keep him from inflicting damage on Manning.
“Being my mentor coming in here I know this is going to be a good week for me, just to show him how far I have come, and thank him for it,’’ Beatty said. “I know his mentality of practicing so I know he’s preparing, he wants to say, ‘I still have lessons to teach you.’ I want to say, ‘The student has become the teacher.’ ”
At least one member of the Giants believes Beatty’s clean sack season is about to come to an end, with Umenyiora doing the honors.
“I know he’s going to be fired up,’’ Jason Pierre-Paul said. “It’s going to be exciting watching him get off again, get off that ball. Hopefully he doesn’t get there but knowing him, he’s going to get there.’’
Not if Will Beatty can help it.