Keidel: Last Thing Giants Need Is Beckham Fixating On Annoying Norman
By Jason Keidel
» More Columns
If the NFL didn't have enough soap operatic sidebars this spring, they have the twin transactions of Josh Norman being jilted by the Carolina Panthers and falling into the bosom of the Washington Redskins.
Which leads fans racing to Odell Beckham Jr., who turned his tete-a-tete with Norman last season into a demo reel of dysfunction.
Only the most jaded Giants fan can say Beckham did himself or his team any justice by morphing into Mike Tyson that Sunday. Norman dwelled deep between Beckham's ears, and Beckham snapped, swinging wildly, wrestling, and hurtling himself head-first at the loquacious cornerback.
For his part, Beckham told NJ.com that he's simply focused on the team's recent, free agent acquisitions and is eager to start a new crusade toward a title. Let's hope he means it. While this is clearly Eli Manning's club, Beckham is its future, a wildly gifted wideout who started smashing records the moment he trotted onto the gridiron.
No doubt a gaggle of reporters will prod Beckham for blackboard fodder, reminding him of his meltdown. And surely Norman, joining Richard Sherman as king CB provocateurs, will chum the waters when he stands five yards from Beckham twice in 2016.
This wasn't simply a spat, a nanosecond lapse in restraint. Beckham went crazy. And it not only cost his team that afternoon, but he was also suspended for the Giants' final game of the season.
The Giants aren't good enough to lose Beckham and win games. At least not enough to reach the playoffs. If they can flip their 6-10 mark from 2015, they should conquer the forlorn NFC East. Norman's new team won it by default last year, going 9-7.
Victor Cruz, who is trying to make an epic comeback after 18 months of rehab on two leg injuries, would make a perfect compliment in the slot to Beckham's dazzling, down-the-sideline speed. But Robin won't flourish without Batman.
The Giants are wiping the slate clean, canning Tom Coughlin, handing Ben McAdoo the headset, and importing a cluster of high-priced mercenaries on defense.
There was a sense that Coughlin lost touch with the younger set, and that McAdoo will be way more simpatico with the key demo. Indeed, neither Coughlin nor the players consoled or lectured Beckham during his spastic, sideline episodes. And perhaps that was the last nail in Coughlin's professional coffin.
One of McAdoo's most important tasks is to get Beckham to buy into the team ethic. For whatever reason, NFL players who make their living on the fringes of the field tend to be the most combustable. Beckham is the latest in a long line of verbose, self-infected skill players who always find the "I" in team.
You tolerate Beckham's eccentricities because he's that good, as gifted as any young wideout we've seen since Randy Moss dashed like a comet down the field in 1998.
If he can keep a singular focus on the field, there is no ceiling to Beckham's high-flying abilities. But for at least two Sundays this fall, you hope he doesn't let Norman clip his wings.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
