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Tom Brady defends Odell Beckham Jr., gives advice about how to spend free time

The Hot Take of the Week, in case you missed it, for the NFL week that was came in the form of a Miami boat trip involving Trey Songz, some New York Giants receivers and how seven days later the passes they dropped against the Green Bay Packers were a direct result of that ill-spent free time.

Yes, we are all dumber for having read that sentence. But it’s not as if the incident didn’t have some effect — even Odell Beckham Jr, one of the now-infamous boat passengers, admitted that the story was a distraction leading up to the Giants’ 38-13 loss at Lambeau Field on Sunday. Not the reason they lost, mind you, but all the chatter certainly didn’t help.

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But free time is important for mentally spent players this time of year, late in the grind, and everyone should realize that. Even Tom Brady knows the importance of getting away from the spotlight, and Brady is one of the few players who can relate to the massive spotlight that currently is being shined on Beckham, the talented but occasionally explosive receiver.

Tom Brady had some advice for Odell Beckham Jr. and how to spend free time during the season. (AP)
Tom Brady had some advice for Odell Beckham Jr. and how to spend free time during the season. (AP)

Brady had some interesting comments when asked about the criticism of Beckham being at the center of the boat controversy during Brady’s weekly hit with “Kirk & Callahan” on WEEI radio in Boston, and the star quarterback both defended Beckham and also shed light on his own experiences away from the facility during a work week.

“Well, it’s a tricky situation,” Brady said. “Players are off, everyone decides what they want to do in their off time. When I was young I did a lot of things that when I look back, I wish I probably wouldn’t have done — flying cross-country, things like that. It just wasn’t publicized.

“It’s up for every team to decide and Coach [Bill] Belichick for example, last week we worked Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and then had the weekend to rest a little bit, rest our bodies, and then we’re in [Monday] for work. The Chiefs, they had the whole week off. Every team has a different personality and obviously when you win, it takes care of all those things. It sucks when you lose.”

Beckham can relate to that last part, and had he played well and the Giants not lost this boat story would have sunk immediately. Instead, it became the Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson story of this generation — fairly or not.

Beckham is barely 24 years old and is starting to learn the power of social media, something Brady didn’t really contend with until later in his career. In fact, Brady spoke of one time he left the Patriots facility — perish the thought! — when he was injured before later thinking better of it.

“I flew out because I was from California and when I had off time that is where I went,” he said. “Looking back there was one time I was actually injured pretty good and I decided to do it. I landed and stayed overnight and I realized, ‘[Shoot], I better fly back’ and I flew back the next morning because it wasn’t a very smart decision.

“You’re younger, you don’t have all the experience that you have and I am at a point doing this as long as I have, I cherish the opportunity that we have. I am putting everything into it. I will have time at the end of the year to do things I need to do, but right now it’s focus on what my job is and that is to put everything I have into this week.”

And even if Beckham more than made up for it with his work on the Packers after returning to the team, the perception-is-reality world we live in isn’t going to see that. He even admitted after the game that all the boat talk “did a great job of putting it in people’s mind, ‘OK, now if the Giants lose it’s because you went to Miami.’ ”

So did a boat trip end the Giants’ season? No, it most certainly didn’t in and of itself. But as Brady noted, sometimes those types of trips are the things players might regret later down the road, even if the actual effect is minimal.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!