Odell Beckham Jr. using playoff loss to Packers as inspiration
Odell Beckham Jr. is one the NFL’s most electrifying playmakers. He looked like anything but that in his first postseason game.
OBJ was targeted 11 times in last January’s Wild Card Game against the Green Bay Packers. He caught four passes for 28 yards but dropped multiple passes, including one for a touchdown, in the Giants’ 38-13 drubbing at Lambeau Field.
Beckham was so angry at his own performance and the end of the Giants’ season that he punched a hole in one of the walls at Lambeau.
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The Wild Card loss came six days after Beckham and a group of teammates were photographed partying on a boat in Miami. He received much criticism for the Miami trip, his performance in the game, and punching the wall.
“You have no idea,” Beckham said Monday. “I really thought about it…the Giants, a historical team. The Packers, a historical team. Lambeau Field. Ice cold. Perfect conditions. Everything you can think of.
“I wasn’t able to capture the moment and did it in a horrible way, in a way I woke up out of my sleep to. Didn’t think it was real. But I used that pain and I turned it into positive energy.”
Beckham says he’s using the loss as motivation for this upcoming season.
“I’m just in a different place,” he said. “I don’t even know how to explain it. I don’t even feel like I’m here some times. My mind is just out there.”
He said earlier in training camp he has no regrets.
“Life, life. You get older. You grow. Things happen. Incidents. And things changing,” he said. “I think it’s just growth, which is a good thing…the moment you stop growing, you’re not getting better.”
Beckham is the only wide receiver in NFL history to with at least 90 receptions, 1,300 receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns in his first three seasons. After making the Pro Bowl in each of his NFL seasons, Beckham’s numbers may fall off in 2017.
The Giants signed free agent wide receiver Brandon Marshall and drafted rookie tight end Evan Engram. Sterling Shepard will be shouldering a bigger load after a productive rookie season. OBJ insists he’s not worried about his individual stats.
“See that banner? That it all I care about,” he said, pointing the banners in the Giants’ facility honoring the franchise’s Super Bowl winners. “Honestly, there is one, two, three, four in here. I don’t know where they put the fifth one, but they’re going to have to make room because we’re going to need it.”
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