On the field, New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo was pleased that Odell Beckham Jr. kept his emotions in check in his showdown with Josh Norman. On the sidelines, though, he needs to see more restraint from his star receiver.
“Emotionally on the sideline in between the series, he needs to do a better job,” McAdoo said, per Dan Duggan, NJ.com. “That’s all of our responsibilities, mine included. But he needs to control his emotions better and be less of a distraction to himself and his teammates. It’s our job to help him with that process. It takes a village. Communication, having a variety of different people, different coaches, staff members that he can talk to and communicate with, just help him direct his focus.”
The scene of Beckham picking a fight with the kicking net on the sideline won’t be forgotten any time soon. Really, it was a tantrum that was not okay.
McAdoo is partially right here. Beckham needs to control his emotions. That part is undeniable.
He’s wrong about the idea that controlling Beckham is somehow the responsibility of other people on the sideline. It’s not. It’s Beckham’s alone.
Whether it’s McAdoo, an assistant coach, a fellow player or anyone else, the focus of everyone on the sideline should be how to win the game. When it’s a close game against a divisional opponent, that becomes even more true. Any energy spent calming Beckham down is not spent figuring out how the game at hand can be won.
Sure, Beckham was entitled to be frustration. Any Giants player, coach or fan should have been frustrated about Eli Manning throwing a red-zone interception during a close game.
But being frustrated and throwing a hissy fit are two different things.
New York was still in that game. As a matter of fact, the Giants regained the lead on the following possession. In games like that, a team needs to know that its players — particularly its best players — are still focused.
When one of them is fighting a kicking net, it’s fair to wonder if he’s focused.
More pressing, this was only New York’s first loss of the season. Even a fantastic year will likely feature at least a few more losses.
Is this what the Giants have to look forward to for the rest of the year whenever anything bad happens? If that’s the case, then the bad moments are only going to be compounded.