Giants' playoff push may be futile, but it's in great hands with Beckham
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.
The stomach virus and allergies hit him last week.
The three IVs came when both his calves cramped while warming up during halftime.
And then the play call wasn’t even one the New York Giants had practiced heading into the game.
When you’re Odell Beckham Jr., do these obstacles really matter?
Eighty-four yards later, the Miami Dolphins got their answer.
No.
Add the go-ahead touchdown that helped save New York’s season to the ever-growing list of magical moments provided by the game’s most physically gifted wide receiver.
Beckham’s latest memorable score propelled the Giants to a 31-24 win Monday night over the Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Tied with Philadelphia and Washington atop the lowly NFC East, New York (6-7) at least remains viable in the playoff race while Miami (5-8) is officially out of contention for a seventh straight season.
“It’s a playoff game for us,” Beckham said at his locker following a seven-catch, 166-yard outing. “The rest of them are playoff games for us.
“You get on a losing streak of three games and we needed to snap it.”
Beckham did that with the play that ultimately broke Miami’s back.
Before getting into the X’s and O’s of how it unfolded, let’s chronicle what it took for Beckham to even be on the field early in the fourth quarter. The second-year wideout already spent the past week trying to remain hydrated while battling illness. The South Florida heat and humidity then took its toll.
Beckham felt something was physically wrong when he tried some light jogging just before the start of the third quarter. Beckham headed into the locker room for treatment, forcing him to miss New York’s opening possession of the second half.
“I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make it through the game,” he said.
Asked if there was anything special in the IV bags he drained, Beckham joked, “The same juice in the Space Jam bottle.”
Beckham then delivered the type of heroics that would make Michael Jordan proud.
Even though it wasn’t part of the team’s game plan, Giants quarterback Eli Manning met with Beckham earlier in the day to discuss an adjustment if Miami played a “quarters” defensive scheme. Manning then reminded his offensive teammates on the sideline about what to look for when spotting the Dolphins uncharacteristically playing a cover-four, which splits coverage responsibilities for defensive backs into four quadrants.
New York’s chance to strike came roughly 3 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter with Beckham lined up on the far left end of the formation. Dolphins cornerback Jamar Taylor had early coverage before releasing that responsibility to safety Reshad Jones as Beckham cut inside.
The problem for Miami: Jones made one of his rare mistakes in a Pro Bowl-worthy season -- he jumped the route, not recognizing it was a slant-and-go. This allowed Beckham to get behind him without a Dolphins defender in the vicinity.
As everyone in the NFL knows, you’re never going to catch Beckham once he has a step. He caught a beautiful pass from Manning at midfield, zoomed into the end zone and celebrated the touchdown by copying the iconic dance of legendary linebacker Ray Lewis, who was at the game as part of the Monday Night Football television coverage.
“He played with passion and love,” Beckham said. “It’s something I admire.”
Beckham shares those same traits as well as the same self-confidence exhibited by all of the NFL’s greats. An example of the latter came on Beckham’s first touchdown catch, which tied the score at 24-24 with 5:01 left in the third quarter.
The officiating crew initially ruled that Beckham was out of bounds when he snared a 6-yard Manning throw on the right side of the end zone. Beckham immediately lobbied Giants head coach Tom Coughlin to throw the challenge flag, which Coughlin did when advised by his assistants who saw the replay -- and Beckham clearly getting both feet down in bounds before falling out of the end zone.
“He has great body control and knows where everything is,” said Manning, who was brilliant himself -- setting a franchise record for completion percentage in a regular-season game by connecting on 27-of-31 attempts (87 percent) for 337 yards and four scores. “He has a great feel for the sidelines and doing (things) with his feet.”
Beckham had one more catch that didn’t put points on the scoreboard but was in many ways just as significant. He hauled in a 5-yard Manning pass on a third and 3 right after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter, allowing New York to run out the clock. Winning in such fashion was huge for a Giants squad that had squandered five late leads earlier this season.
“It felt good to not have to put our defense back on the field or in situations where the other team can go down and score,” Beckham said. “Let’s not leave it in anybody else’s hands.”
The Giants don’t control their own postseason destiny. Even if New York wins out (and thus defeats Philadelphia in Week 17), the Giants would need for Washington to lose at least one game because of an unfavorable tiebreaker scenario. New York also could quickly fade again with upcoming games Sunday against visiting Carolina (13-0) and at Minnesota (8-5) the following week.
“It’s unfortunate we are what our record is,” Beckham said. “We’ve been in games where it’s been a dog fight and we’re up and we haven’t finished. But even though it’s late, we still have an opportunity to take control of what we want to do.
“To go through adversity enables us to know the situation now and actually capitalize this time. We did a great job of that tonight.”
Nobody more so than Beckham.
