Wednesday Transcript: WR Odell Beckham

WR Odell Beckham Jr

October 7, 2015

Q: Coach Coughlin said you went into talk to him this morning. Why did you go in and what did you discuss?

A: Well I went to talk to him because I walked by his office and I saw him. I was just telling him just how much I love playing football, how much I love being here. This being my job, I want to be the best.

Q: Did the subject of what the Bills said about you come up?

A: No.

Q: What are your thoughts about what they did say?

A: I hadn’t read it.

Q: They called you a prima donna and a golden boy.

A: It’s whatever, man. Its football, we’re playing football. I’m not worried about the Bills, they’re in the past, we beat them last week.

Q: Tom said the subject was your actions on the field. I guess you threw a punch at one point, the Bills say a couple of punches were thrown, how he wants you to be above all of that stuff.

A: Yeah, that’s what they say. Everybody has their opinion, everybody can say what they want to say. But at the end of the day, we’re out there playing football. So everything else is irrelevant. What they do to me and what I do to them is irrelevant. It’s football, man, I don’t know how much more to explain it besides that.

Q: But it’s got to be tough, you’ve obviously been a target. They’re clearly going after you and you want to defend yourself but you know you can’t cost the team. How fine a line is that to walk?

A: It’s tough. It’s tough to walk the line. You know that they’re out there targeting you and they’re trying to do things to you, as much as somebody wants to say that they’re not, they are, and that’s just the case. Like I said, we’re out there to play football and that’s all I came here to do, to play football and do whatever this team needs.

Q: Did you feel that things maybe got a little bit chippy and out of hand at the end of the game?

A: I think it was the beginning of the game. I think it’s every game, matter of a fact. It starts off like that. Whatever the case is, that’s how it is.

Q: You mean regarding you, as far as targeting?

A: Just bickering back and forth between teams blah, blah, blah.

Q: How about you specifically and how they approach you?

A: You already asked me about that. You talked about how they’re targeting and doing that. You just said it, so really no more to say about it than that. They’re doing what they’re doing and we’re playing football, that’s all there is to it.

Q: You’ve been pretty candid about your emotions in the past, you talked to us about that in the summer… just the idea of walking that line, that emotional line. Do you find yourself questioning week after week how you should let it out, keep it in?

A: I mean, not really, I just go out there and play football. It’s all there is to it, we’re playing football and nothing else really matters.

Q: There seems to be a lot of fashionable guys in the locker room. These book bags are getting kind of out of hand. Who do you think has a better book bag between you and Rashad?

A: I think Rashad has one of Spray Ground bags, it came out in like ’06 or ’05 or something like that. I don’t know, is Rashad around? But I don’t know, I think I have a wide variety of collection of those bags, some new, some old.

Q: Tom was saying that you have a passion and a toughness to play this game, you just want to go out and play really hard. Do you think people misconstrue that as some cockiness after the notoriety you’ve gotten over the catch?

A: All the time. I think it’s hard for me because people who know me know I came here to play football. I love football, there’s nothing more to it than that. I just love this game. I’m very confident in my ability. I know what I’ve been given, I know my responsibilities that I have. A lot of people take that as people have built me up to be right here and they hear so much about me that I don’t know if they hear so much about other people. So now, “He’s what they’re talking about now, I can make my name off of him. Or I could do whatever I need to do to get in that light.” Honestly, like I said, I came here to do whatever this team needs me to do. If they need me to block 70 plays a game, that’s what I’m here to do. If they want to catch 60 balls a game, I’ll do that as well. It doesn’t really bother me either which way.

Q: Can you talk about the 49ers coming up, that’s your next opponent?

A: The 49ers are a great team. I don’t think you can ever sleep on any team due to record, this is the NFL. Any team can be better any given day. We know they’re going to be hungry for a win, and we’re going to have to play like we’re hungry, because we are. Trying to get our record to 3-2 and we’ve got to do whatever it takes.

Q: Will you appeal the fine you got from the game?

A: Of course. Of course. Yeah, I get punched every single game or “punched” or whatever it is—I get hit in my face every single game. Like I said, it is what it is, but we’re playing football and these are grown men out here. I don’t think anybody should be talking about what happened after they lost the game.

Q: That’s still the bottom line for you, the best revenge, winning the game?

A: We’re 2-2, we beat the Buffalo Bills last week. The past is behind you, can’t really change it.

Q: Does it bother you or is it laughable to you that they would call you a prima donna, a wonder boy?

A: No. Does it bother you a little bit?

Q: Does it bother you?

A: No, it doesn’t bother me, I’m fine. I’m fine every single day, I sleep like a baby at night.

Q: Were you surprised the Bills were kind of walking around with a swagger a little bit?

A: You brought it to my attention, I didn’t really know much about it besides now. For a Bills team who I think is one of the best defenses in the league, could be one of the best teams in the league, just to hear remarks and stuff like that, it’s kind of confusing, it kind of messes with my idea of their identity. And where do they go from here? I don’t know. Like I said, it’s all irrelevant, it’s all words, it’s all in the past. There’s nothing any one of us can do about it. So we move forward to San Fran.

Q: Are you getting a lot more attention this year than last year?

A: Yeah. Yeah. Definitely would have to say so. That’s good for us, I love that. If I can draw two guys on one play, if I can draw seven guys on a fake reverse and we have a big play, I did my job. You know what I mean? I think there was a big play in the game, I think they called illegal man downfield or something like that. I know there’s a rule that you can only have one yard to go, and we watched it on film and he is one yard away before the ball is released. Big play gets called back. Like I said, we came here to play football, you can’t do much about calls or whatever any one else has to say. All you can do is what’s between snap and whistle.

Q: Coach Coughlin brought up the Rashad touchdown and the idea that here you are, everyone kind of forgets you had a bit of a collision, but you were coming across the field to try and lay that block to spring him to get to the end zone.

A: Yeah, I was trying but he didn’t need any of my help. I tried to get out of his way at the last minute, he just smacked him by and kept running and I didn’t want to mess up the touchdown so I just had to go across and get out of the way.

Q: But from your perspective, that’s something that kind of feeds into the idea of you’re out there playing and doing more than just catching passes for this team.

A: Right. Anybody who watches the film, you’re going to see there’s no plays off really, so to say. If I have to go down and block the safety, that’s my job. I’m going to go in there and try to do that. I was trying to go get a block for Rashad on that play. Rashad picked the knees up and kept running and made the guy miss. I probably should have stayed on the corner out of his way.

Q: Did you get a specific explanation of which plays that they didn’t like?

A: I didn’t read it, to be honest. I’m not really worried about it.

Q: Could you clarify for me why you went into to talk to Coach Coughlin and what his advice was to you?

A: Well, I didn’t go upstairs to talk to Coach Coughlin.

Q: You ran into him?

A: Yeah, I ran into him. I went to go talk to Jerry Reese and just same thing I told you earlier, I’m telling him I came here to play football, I love playing football, and that’s all there is to it.

Q: Did Jerry Reese have advice to you?

A: Same thing Coughlin said.

Q: Which was what?

A: Just keep doing your job, we love everything, blah, blah, blah. Same thing, you know what I mean? There’s no underlying story to it.

Q: I apologize if this has been asked before, but what is your thought about the MRSA stuff that’s running around?

A: It’s kind of the nature of the beast with stuff in here. Everybody is sweaty, dirty, and things can get passed around through scabs and scars or whatever. Whatever it is, I don’t know everything about it. A teammate of ours has it, and they just want to make sure they control the situation so it doesn’t spread to other guys. I’ve heard about staph and MRSA, whatever it is, I’ve heard about it before. Hopefully it stays out of the locker room from now on.

Q: Are you guys concerned at all though?

A: They said something about Ebola a long time ago, and I try not to worry about that. There’s no need to worry about it, if something is going to happen, it’s going to happen. I believe in destiny and faith.

Q: Did you expect this kind of attention directed at you this year coming into this year?

A: As far as on the field? Definitely. I didn’t think that anybody would do the same things that they did last year. I knew that there would be more attention drawn. Like I said, I like it, it opens other guys, it opens up other plays in our playbook. Hopefully they’ll continue to keep doing it and other guys will make big plays like we keep doing.

Q: Are you confident you’ll be able to control your emotions when you’re baited?

A: Baited? Control your emotions? I feel like I do a pretty good job. I don’t remember getting any flags last game or one for offensive holding or something. I didn’t have any penalties during the game, so controlling my emotions isn’t really any of my concern.