Odell Beckham Jr. has seen this game, and all the games that would get him to the Super Bowl, in his dreams.
He could be Jerry Rice, and Eli Manning could be Montana, and the whole wide world is watching, and the ball is in his hands, over and over and over again, and he is Secretariat racing to the end zone, and now moonwalking in the end zone, and somewhere out there, LeBron and Drake and Justin Bieber are smiling, and a hush falls over the hostile crowd.
He is the football Sinatra, the biggest and brightest star on the biggest and brightest stage of his young football life, giving a virtuoso performance of “My Way.”
The cold does not bother him. The zebras do not bother him. The desperate, taunting Packers defensive backs do not bother him.
This is the first of The Legacy Games for Odell Beckham Jr.
Where legends are made.
“Absolutely,” Beckham said.
And he was born for this moment.
He has longed for this moment.
“I feel like I’ve talked about it for years since I’ve been here,” Beckham said, “and it’s finally here.”
He will show up for the biggest game of his life with the “Just Give Me the Damn Ball” mindset that all the great ones do, without having to say it to his two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback.
“I just don’t know what more you would ask for,” Beckham said. “It’s fourth-and-1; it’s 1 minute, 36 seconds left on the clock; you’re down five. You need a play, you just need a first down to stay alive. But you score a touchdown. It’s something about those moments knowing … you have to get it done, there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. There’s no way around it, you just have to get it done. I do enjoy those moments.
“It’s like taking the last shot.
“You never know if you’re gonna fail unless you shoot.”
Aaron Rodgers on one side.
Odell Beckham Jr. on the other.
Star Wars, for 60 minutes or beyond.
“I expect to be very excited, very anxious,” Beckham said. “A situation I’ve never been in. Something I feel like I’ve always dreamed of. I’m ready for it.
“I wish it was tomorrow.”
Beckham said he doesn’t think it will truly hit him until he returns to Lambeau Field.
“One of the historic places in my opinion,” Beckham said.
Rice had four catches for 45 yards in his first playoff game, a 17-3 loss to the Giants his rookie season at Giants Stadium. He finished with 151 catches for 2,245 yards and 22 TDs in 29 postseason games. He had 33 catches for 589 yards and eight TDs in four Super Bowls.
“A lot of points he put up on the board,” Beckham said. “He just was in the right place at the right time. He made the plays when they needed to be made. I’ve seen the highlights. I’ve watched them for years. Obviously the best to ever do it. And this was a time where he stepped it up even more. That’s what you have to do. You gotta bring your A game — your A-plus game. Actually you gotta bring the very best that you have, and you have to leave it all out there.”
He will be bringing the chip on his shoulder he has forever carried as the self-proclaimed underdog.
“You thrive in these pressure situations knowing that big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games,” Beckham said, “and that’s what we all need to do.”
He lives for today. Every day. On the field and off. Especially on.
“I wouldn’t trade what I have going on for anything in the world,” Beckham said. “God’s put me in a great position, I’m truly, truly blessed. I genuinely feel like I try and enjoy every moment, every second of life. Tomorrow’s never promised. You walk out this building, it’s never promised. I don’t want to say I live every day like it’s my last, but it’s pretty close to it.”
And always on Sundays. Especially this Sunday.