Odell Beckham Jr. left for locker room early due to dehydration, says Giants' Pat Shurmur
The sight of Odell Beckham Jr. leaving the field and toward the locker room as he shook his head on Thursday night, before the first half was even over, might not help the tension surrounding him and the New York Giants.
Late in the first half, with the Philadelphia Eagles up 24-6, Fox cameras found Beckham leaving to the locker room. Beckham was going back by himself because the first half wasn’t over.
Giants coach Pat Shurmur said that it wasn’t frustration that sent Beckham to the locker room early. The wideout went to get an IV because he was dehydrated.
Pat Shurmur’s explanation for Odell Beckham’s early first-half exit: He needed an IV #Giants pic.twitter.com/FifXOvTbRk
— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) October 12, 2018
Beckham told reporters that he was cramping up.
And as it turned out, the Giants got another offensive play and had to run it without Beckham. The Eagles missed a long field goal, the Giants got the ball back with two seconds left and ran a play. Beckham wasn’t on the field because he was back in the locker room. The pass went to Sterling Shepard, who gained a fairly meaningless 20 yards. It’s not like Beckham was going to break through the entire Eagles defense to score if he got the ball on that final play, but it was a bad look.
The Eagles eventually wiped out the Giants, winning 34-13.
Beckham created waves lately for his comments, most notably some not-so-supportive words about Eli Manning during an ESPN interview last week. Fox’s Jay Glazer reported that the team fined Beckham for those comments.
It’s far from the first time there has been drama between Beckham and the team. Shurmur said last week that he wanted to talk about football, not drama. But drama is never far off with Beckham. Unless the team gave permission for Beckham to leave to the locker room before the first half was over, it will be interesting to see if he’s punished again.
The Giants struggled offensively in the first half on Thursday night. Beckham had two catches for 12 yards. Fans booed the entire offense for the sluggish performance. He finished with six catches for 44 yards.
If Giants fans yelled at the team as it entered the locker room when the first half ended, Beckham didn’t hear it. He was already inside.
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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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