Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. managed to control himself during his much-anticipated rematch with Redskins cornerback Josh Norman Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Too bad the rest of his teammates couldn’t.
Still, when officials warn one of the best receivers in the NFL before a game that he would be thrown out “if you do anything,” it amounts to over-policing and could have negatively impacted the game. That’s what Beckham alleged following the Giants’ frustrating 29-27 loss to the desperate Redskins.
A year ago, Beckham and Norman, then with the Panthers, got into a series of nasty one-on-one scuffles that led to Beckham receiving three personal fouls. After Norman signed with the division-rival Redskins during the offseason, their rematch was hyped throughout the week. Apparently, the officiating crew, led by referee John Hussey, was concerned enough to specifically warn Beckham and tell Norman not to make “a mockery of the game.”
Nothing should be predetermined to that extent in the NFL. Teams already are aware of the so-called Odell Beckham Jr. Rule, where if a player gets two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game, he is automatically ejected. But the refs apparently took it one step further Sunday.
“Today they came up before the game and said, ‘If you do anything we’re throwing you out of the game, and that was before the game,” Beckham said. “There’s was no, ‘You get a warning.’ There was not any of that.”
There’s no way of knowing if the pregame warning impacted Beckham’s performance, which was decent enough with seven catches for 121 yards. He now has accumulated more than 3,000 yards receiving in his career and is the fastest to reach that milestone.
But it was Norman who walked away a winner, as the rest of the Giants seemed to lose their discipline and poise. It probably would have benefited the home team more had center Weston Richburg been warned before the game. He was ejected after two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, the second coming after Beckham gained 24 yards to the Washington 5 and with the Giants trailing 26-24 with 14:18 left in the game. Two plays later, Eli Manning threw an interception. In essence, Richburg became the first victim of the Odell Beckham Jr. Rule. Go figure.
“You just have to be on your best behavior,” Beckham said. “Unfortunately, that’s what it’s come to. It’s not really about football anymore as much as it is all the other things that play into it.”
Richburg blamed Beckham-Norman I.
“I think this match last year with two individuals was kind of the problem,” he said. “So I think [the officials] were kind of trying to cut down on that.”
Replays showed Richburg’s block was unnecessary, as was the blow delivered by Andrew Adams that negated a blocked punt in the fourth quarter. They were among a number of mental and physical mistakes the Giants committed to ruin their hopes of a 3-0 start.
Beckham wasn’t part of that group, though he feared he might be ejected when he was flagged for setting an illegal pick to free teammate Sterling Shepard late in the game.
“I was surprised they didn’t throw me out of the game then,” he said.
His only antic was smashing his helmet into a kicking net on the sidelines and having the contraption recoil and hit him in the face. Beckham had a scrape on his cheek after the game, though he couldn’t remember when he actually suffered the injury. He also couldn’t remember any trash talk with Norman or the Washington cornerback lifting him in the air after a play away from the ball.
“We’re just two fierce competitors,” Beckham said. “That’s all it is. We love football. I feel like this has turned into something that is not football. Honestly, that’s all that I care for is football.”
Give Beckham and Norman credit for keeping it about football on the field. But the officials had no business putting them in handcuffs before the game even started.