Chatelain: Expect Giants' Beckham To Deal With Some Sophomore Struggles
By Ryan Chatelain
WFAN.com
When Odell Beckham Jr. exploded onto the scene as a rookie last season, burning NFL defenders and making highlight-reel plays seemed to come easy to him.
But if the Giants' loss Sunday night at Dallas is any indication, Year 2 won't be quite so simple.
The Cowboys' defense managed to keep Beckham relatively quiet as Dallas came from behind in the final seconds for a 27-26 victory. Beckham was held to five catches for just 44 yards.
The Cowboys didn't allow him to catch his first pass until less than a minute remained in the second quarter. They prevented him from breaking free downfield all night. And when the flashy second-year wideout found a sliver of space underneath, he was promptly greeted by a Dallas defensive back, most notably on a thunderous first-quarter wallop by J.J. Wilcox that resulted in an incompletion.
Beckham being a non-factor was a sight not seen much last year. In fact, Sunday night ended his streak of 90-yard games at nine.
But the job Dallas did defending Beckham was more than just about stats. Big Blue's inability to get the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year the ball downright disrupted its offense.
When he was actually trying to score touchdowns, quarterback Eli Manning was forced into check-down pass after check-down pass, only throwing for 93 yards to wide receivers.
This could prove to be a bona fide problem for a Giants offense that is short on dynamic offensive playmakers.
It's a no-brainer when defensive coordinators game-plan for the Giants they'll be putting Beckham in their crosshairs, and they've now had an entire offseason to thoroughly dissect the film on him. And in the copycat NFL, expect the Giants' future foes to try to replicate the Cowboys' recipe for slowing down "ODB," which included preventing the big play and cheating as many as three defenders toward his direction – a tactic made far easier by the fact that Rueben Randle and Preston Parker scare absolutely no one.
When the Manning-to-Beckham connection was clicking last season, Big Blue's offense looked like a well-tuned Ferrari. Against the Cowboys, however, it looked more like a rickety jalopy.
The only reason the Giants even had a lead to blow was because their defense contributed to 17 of their 26 points, an output they undoubtedly won't be able to count on in the future.
Sure, some fans will inevitably look to Victor Cruz's return, whenever that may be, as a much-needed boost to the offense that could help free up Beckham to perform more on-the-field miracles. But the truth is no one knows if Cruz will ever remotely resemble the explosive slot ace he's been in the past. The sad reality is the list of careers shattered by ruptured patellar tendons is far longer than the list of inspiring comeback stories.
This is not to say, by any stretch, that Beckham won't shine again in 2015 or that he's destined for a sophomore slump. On the contrary, he is a transcendent talent with 4.4 speed, exceptional shiftiness and world-renowned hands. Even if an opponent theoretically knows the formula for slowing him down, it won't always be able to successfully execute the game plan because Beckham is just that good.
But Sunday proved that what appeared to be almost effortless for him in 2014 might be a struggle at times this season.
Follow Ryan on Twitter at @RyanChatelain
