The Many, Often Infuriating, Sides of Odell Beckham on Display in Giants Loss

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Odell Beckham: brilliant, historic, smart, talented.

Odell Beckham: immature, ill-tempered, petty.

Both of these portraits of Beckham are true. And both were on display in a neat, beautiful, ugly package against Washington on Sunday that showed as good as Beckham is, he has a lot of growing up to do.

The good Beckham was the player who put the Giants on his back late in the game, finishing with seven catches for 121 yards. It wasn’t enough, as Washington beat them, 29-27, at MetLife Stadium, but it was still impressive to see. When he is on, no one in football is better. Not Antonio Brown. Not Julio Jones. Not Jordy Nelson. No one.

The much-discussed matchup between Washington cornerback Josh Norman and Beckham wasn’t even close to the most interesting part of the game. Their duel didn’t compare to simply watching Beckham play.

How good has Beckham been? On Sunday, he became the fastest player in history to record 200 catches and 3,000 receiving yards, doing it in just 30 games. While the rules make it easier for receivers today than it was in the eras of Jerry Rice or even the earlier parts of Randy Moss’ career, Beckham’s milestone is still impressive. It took Rice 47 games to reach the same marks.

He is already one of the best pure receiving talents the sport has ever seen. 

Then, as the Giants melted down, we saw the Beckham do the same. For all of his great skills, he is still a baby, and if he’s not careful, his temper and immaturity will hurt both his career and the Giants.

Take Sunday, for example. Giants offensive lineman Weston Richburg became the first player ejected under the two-personal-foul rule. While Richburg rightfully took the blame for his ejection, he also admitted he believed the officials were tense about the Beckham-Norman hype.

“I think [the] matchup last year with the two individuals was kind of a problem,” Richburg said, “so I think [the game officials] were kind of trying to cut down on that.”

(“That” being the extracurricular nonsense between Beckham and Norman that marred the matchup between the two players last season in Week 15.)

Beckham then fell into a maelstrom of his own in the …

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