WR Odell Beckham Jr.
December 14, 2016
Q: How do you look at this ballgame coming off the big victory with another pretty good test?
A: Right now, we have to focus on the next one. That’s the most important game we’ve had all year. We just have to find ways to do better than we did last week and come out with a win.
Q: What do you see in this Lions defense?
A: The team is doing pretty nice. If I’m not mistaken, they’re leading their division. They’re doing pretty good. Their defense has a lot of talent over there. They have some guys up front that are game wreckers. We just have to control what we can control.
Q: How do you keep the pedal to the metal as a football team and keep it going?
A: I feel like the same way we’ve been doing it all year. You’re going to be tested and go through trials and tribulations. You’ll fail, you’ll succeed. It’s just a matter of staying in the moment, which is what we’re doing right now.
Q: They’ve won five straight and are fighting for a playoff spot just like you. Do you expect this game to be even more intense this week?
A: I do. I expect this to be a very intense game between two hungry teams, teams that are trying to solidify themselves in making the playoffs. Right now, it’s one game at a time. You never know what could happen.
Q: When you look at the game film, what do you see out of Darrius Slay?
A: I’ve gone against him in college, so I’ve known, seen and watched him for a long time. We’ve always competed. It’s fun going against a guy that loves football. He loves to compete. It’ll be a good matchup, so to say.
Q: What was the college experience like?
A: We ended up winning. We won. LSU won. From what I can remember, he’s a lengthy, tall corner. He plays the ball well and is playing at a high level. I think just like everyone else, as you get older, you get better. You can definitely see that he’s improved. He’s playing at a high level right now. They’re doing well over there.
Q: What is it like as an offensive player to see what the defense has been doing?
A: It’s great. Whenever I’m in a game and I need someone to pick me up, I’ll go watch the defense. The intensity that they play with, the tenacity, everything. ‘Just not going to let someone beat us’ is their mentality. They’re not going to be scored on. It is just great to be on the other side. Just want to help them out more. Whether it’s on special teams or offense, we just have to do more to help our defense out.
Q: Are you impressed with what they do?
A: I am very impressed. It’s what they’re supposed to be doing with all the guys they have over there. I keep saying, I think they’re a championship defense, in my opinion. I’ve been going against them since training camp and it was never easy in practice. It doesn’t look easy in the game for other people. I think other people feel the pain that the offense had to experience pretty much all of training camp going through the season.
Q: What do you guys have to do to be a championship offense?
A: Score points. That’s really it. Score more points and execute. It’s all going to come together. I was talking to coach Mac and he was telling me about an experience right before his team made the playoffs. He said they won the last game, 7-3. The offense was not exactly there, but they ended up making it in. They pretty much destroyed everyone throughout those games for the rest of the postseason. I truly believe in the timing of everything. I believe that it will all come together at the right time. As a matter of when that time is, I don’t know if we know.
Q: Isn’t it weird that we have not seen the best Giants offense yet this far into the season?
A: Yes. What’s even weirder is that our record is what it is and we haven’t done that. That’s putting things in perspective. That’s a good thing, I guess. We haven’t lived up to our potential on offense and we’re still finding ways to win games. A win is a win. We just keep it going.
Q: You said after the game that you would hit the JUGS machine on Monday. Were you serious about that?
A: No, I was just saying it for fun. I’m pretty serious about whatever I say for the most part. It’s just tough. It’s a line between wanting to get better and also trying to protect that thumb for right now because you can’t keep taking too much contact to it for right now until it’s game time. Just trying to find a way.
Q: How much is it bothering you?
A: It’s only when there’s contact or I try and grab someone. It’s not like it’s a regular finger, it’s your thumb. It’s the most important one you have. It’s definitely difficult but I’ve dealt with it before and I’m sure it will happen again. You just have to play through it and rub some dirt on it.
Q: Is there a line between obsessing over a drop and then just looking at it and saying, okay, it’s a drop I’m going to move on?
A: Yes. I have trouble just moving on. I’m pretty obsessive over, at least, that area of the game. It definitely bothers me, whenever I drop a pass. It sure won’t be the first and it sure won’t be the last.
Q: Did you study it?
A: Both of them.
Q: On the first one, the deep one, your assessment is what?
A: Just dropped it. Was trying to find the ball and I found it late. Tried to cradle it in instead of catching it how I would usually catch it. It just got up on me. The second one, I was just trying to make a play. I went to squeeze it and it shot out of my hand. You can’t really worry about it. I’ve dropped a pass before. It’s not the end of the world for me and it does not break my confidence. It’s not going to deter me from doing what I’m capable of doing. I just don’t want to have them. I don’t want to have any more drops.
Q: Do you think you took your eyes off the second one? They were saying on TV that they saw your eyes move?
A: I’m sure you could see that from the TV copy. I don’t know. I just didn’t catch it. It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t bother me.
Q: With your thumb, do you have to catch the ball differently to avoid the pain?
A: Yes, you look at it differently. You try and find the spiral and just place your hands around it the best way you can without having to go through that contact. It’s something that crosses your mind but certain times it crosses your mind more than others when you’re going to make a catch.
Q: Is playing at home this year different than it has been in the past? You’re 6-1 there and your big plays?
A: I don’t think it’s any disrespect to the fans that we have out there but the past two years, I remember them leaving games. Specifically, I remember the Cardinals game my rookie year. They run a punt back and go up 26-14 with 9:22 left. I watched people in that stadium just leave like we’re out of here, the game is over. We don’t want to be caught in traffic. It was shocking to me at the time. You could tell that they’re very into it and see what we have going on. Hopefully we give them some hope and something to cheer for.
