His excessive behavior is getting old. His rage and explosive outbursts are scarier. It’s too often, especially after a bad game, when a man with a hot temper worse than Donald Duck throws a tantrum and cries if the game doesn’t go his way. Any rational, sane person can see how Odell Beckham Jr. is losing his damn mind. A side of me believes he’s in serious need of professional help.
For now, since the season has come to an end, Beckham’s temper should be an ongoing concern for the Giants. The star receiver’s bad decorum is detrimental to him, his teammates, to the New York Giants franchise. He behaves like a petulant child who should be contemplating on whether he’d spend the offseason in a doctor’s office sitting on a couch talking out his emotions with a therapist. The more important question is, when is he going to grow up?
At 24, he’s an otherworldly talent with the goods to become a once-in-a-generation talent, but because of his poor judgment and attitude, it takes away from his game. He’s a little boy playing in a big-boy league, making ridiculous, bending one-handed catches and helping the Giants, who have come to the realization that Beckham’s impact is immeasurable, reach the playoffs only to fall victim to the Green Bay Packers in a 38-13 season-ending loss. It really doesn’t matter, at the end of the day, how great of a receiver he is when he’s behaving like a spoiled, little brat who breaks things, becomes destructive and throws one of his locker room fits after having a subpar performance. By now, the Giants know they not only have a player whose open-field speed and gifted hands vaulted him into one of the game’s top receivers but also a psychotic, creepy clown whose immature, ill-tempered, petty nonsense has snowballed out of control.
Because of his previous incidents, the frequent patterns of anger he displays on the sideline, continued negative press about Beckham is inevitable. What he needs, now that his on-field troubles are creating a ruckus and becoming an ever-growing epidemic, is for someone around him to take on the role of being a father figure. We’ve marveled at his talent and commended him for his dedication, but as of now, he’s under attack for his issues, which have become an alarming trend for the Giants. He doesn’t have proper guidance. He’s a troubled kid.
It is a problem that continually turns a good football player into a hotheaded fool who vents on the sideline and takes his anger out on a kicking net only to lose the fight, then allegedly punches a hole in an innocent wall after the Giants’ playoff loss. If he puts more of his energy into his craft and not waste too much by snapping and losing it on the sideline and behind close doors, maybe he won’t have too many drops. Best believe he’s taking a beating for his dismal performance in his first-ever postseason game, with many of his critics revisiting the boat trip he and several Giants players took to Miami on their day off.
As anger and frustration bleed into something revolting, with red flags and warning signs that shouldn’t be ignored, it’s critical this offseason the Giants, if nobody else, take heed to his violent and reckless acts and stop coming to the defense of a man who is having mental meltdowns. Much of the blame is being directed at Beckham for only catching four passes for 28 yards and dropping three in the wildcard round on Sunday. From the dropped balls, to the hole in the wall, everywhere OBJ’s name is heard around the world, deeply concerned about his state of mind.
Ben McAdoo, Beckham’s coach, shouldn’t be in denial about his receiver’s mental health, and as the voice of men, he should reach out to Beckham. In truth, however, Beckham can only help himself, not his coach, not the Giants owner, not general manager Jerry Reese, his enabler. What it’s going to take for him to realize he cannot get away with his foolishness is for Reese to stop enabling Beckham from behaving worse than a toddler.
It’s not totally fair to blame Reese or even McAdoo when in reality the two are not responsible for another grown men’s actions. It doesn’t say anywhere in their job descriptions that it requires them to babysit grown ass men, but since they have the power to be disciplinarians, the coach and GM should hold him accountable for his diva-like behavior that makes him and the Giants look bad as an organization.
It’s a real shame Beckham’s good talent is going to waste because of the way he handles a loss. He doesn’t know how to lose, doesn’t know how to withstand adversity. He sometimes only thinks about himself, not his teammates, and not the people writing his paychecks. For the Giants to escape the drama and absurdity and try to find peace and professionalism, Reese and McAdoo need to discipline him and recommend that he gets treatment.
In the long run, this will maybe help Beckham make a 360 degree turn in his life. He needs to grow up, and more importantly, he needs help before his career is cut short.
He’s too great of a player to throw it all away.
