There is never a shortage of opinions when it comes to evaluating Odell Beckham Jr.’s off-the-field actions. His ESPN interview generated attention galore. Beckham did not outwardly support Eli Manning, seemed to question coach Pat Shurmur’s offense and would not even say he was happy to be playing for the Giants. Some outside the organization thought Beckham spoke the truth.
“What Odell Beckham Jr. did with that football team, I really believe [that] finally the air is clear,’’ former Giants quarterback and current CBS analyst Phil Simms said on “Inside The NFL’’ on Showtime. “It’s over and I expect the Giants to come out Thursday night and play the Philadelphia Eagles and play their best game of the year. That damage, I think, it will galvanize the football team.’’
Prior to Thursday’s game and the announcement of Beckham’s fine, Simms said he believed the Giants almost had as good a chance to win the NFC East as any other team, despite starting the season losing four of their first five games. He does not see Beckham’s words as hurtful to the Giants.
“If a little adversity and friction destroys your team, you’re not a team to begin with,’’ Simms said. “I don’t think what went on there is going to destroy the Giants’ football season.”
The Giants have the weekend off and Shurmur will take advantage of the break by heading to Nashville to see his son, Kyle, play for Vanderbilt. Kyle Shurmur is a senior quarterback for the Commodores. He has completed 60.4 percent of his passes this season for 1,400 yards, nine touchdowns and four interceptions. In his career, the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Shurmur has 49 touchdown passes and 27 interceptions. Vanderbilt (3-3) faces No. 14 Florida (5-1) on Saturday afternoon. This will be the first time the Giants coach will see his son play in person since last Nov. 25, when Vanderbilt beat Tennessee 42-24 in Knoxville.
Sunday’s loss marked the first time this season the Giants lost a game with their offense having a breakout performance, scoring 30 points for the first time in 37 consecutive games. That is why the 33-31 loss to the Panthers buoyed the confidence of the players on offense.
“I think that showed what we’re capable of and we put up 30 points, but I think we left a couple still out there too,’’ rookie running back Saquon Barkley said. “We got to continue to keep growing, continue to keep working and to be able to put up 30 points and obviously lose a game like that, I think that game showed it was the toughness, the grit, the passion that we played with as a team and obviously the outcome wasn’t the way we wanted to be, but you could learn a lot of things from that game and take that game a long way.’’
What home-field advantage? The Eagles came into the game with a record of 6-2 against the Giants at MetLife Stadium. In the past 20 games in this series, the Giants were 4-16. The Eagles also came in with a record of 3-0 on Thursday night games since 2016.
WR Sterling Shepard played some quarterback at Heritage High School in Oklahoma City and says “I got an arm.’’ He said he tried to lobby the Giants coaches that he should be considered for gadget plays like the one the team scored on last week when Beckham passed to Barkley for a 57-yard touchdown.“They didn’t even give me a tryout,’’ Shepard said. “I think they saw ‘O’ throw it after catching a punt one time, and he threw it about 50 something yards. It was over with.’’