That WR Odell Beckham Jr. is one of professional football’s most electrifying players if not the best thing about watching the underachieving NY Giants has been long established. However, his behavior during Sunday’s 38-35 defeat to the still-undefeated Carolina Panthers raised the ire of the Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore, who claims CB Josh Norman,”flustered Beckham past the point of petulance and into madness”, while calling the post-whistle, helmet-first spear of Norman, “a gutless, crazed act that should have disqualified him from the remainder of the game.”
Beckham’s spineless hit on Norman unnecessarily endangered another player. He is one of the most breathtaking players in the NFL, a star who possesses the kind of athleticism that drives millions to the couch each Sunday. His spearing of Norman was unpardonable. It is a big deal. The NFL has a tendency to over-punish, but it ought to throw everything it can within the rules of the collective bargaining agreement at Beckham. He should be fined and suspended to the hilt.
Beyond next week, which in a just world Beckham will not participate in, Beckham will be looked at in a different light than before Sunday. His one-handed catches are seared into the collective memory of NFL fans. Now there is another image right next to it, and it brands him as a coward who tried to injure an opponent when the other guy wasn’t even looking. Frustration so often reveals character, and that’s who Odell Beckham is.