Thursday Media Transcript: WR Odell Beckham Jr.

WR Odell Beckham Jr.
September 27, 2018
 
Q: Where do you think this offense is at right now and are you encouraged?
A: Yes, very encouraged. I don’t know where we’re at as far as the ranks or anything like that but we’re moving in the right direction. 
 
Q: Coach Shula said today the end result is getting into the end zone. Is that something that you’re thinking about right now, or you feel it’ll just come?  
A: I’m always thinking about getting into the end zone – at home, wherever you’re at. Any time I catch the ball I want to score, but just being efficient on third downs right now. I’ve been watching, I had a lot of third downs, keep the drives open and keep us going, attracting doubles and bracket coverage with a safety over the top, and letting our other weapons do what we do. As long as we can keep that going, spread the ball around, we’re going to be dangerous.
 
Q: Pat Shurmur made the comment the other day that when Sterling Shepard scored that touchdown the other day, you were the first one there to greet him.    
A: I was trying to.   
 
Q: What is that feeling like among you guys? 
A: I don’t know how to describe it, but this is a guy who you get up with every morning, you were here for training camp, through all the hard work, and just to see him score and get in there, hit his little South Dallas swag, I just smile. I love seeing it. When he scored, I couldn’t be nothing but happy for him. It was at the end of the game too, kind of like, not a walk-off but close to it to put us up. I love that, hopefully we have 10-20 of them from him this year. That’s the goal, to score as many as we can.
 
Q: You use the word efficient – in yourself. That’s not the word that would normally be associated with you, maybe explosive. Are you waiting for that kind of game? 
A: I’m always waiting to break out. I always feel like I’m one play away, always feel like at any moment in time it could be a shallow, it could be a deep pass, it could be a slant, it could go 80, it could 60, it could go wherever. Honestly I’ve been watching, and I’ve been feeling and talking to myself and there’s still been times where you’re coming back and I’m used to everything but you’re scared to just hit it like you used to. I saw one opportunity that I missed and I was upset about it, it was a slant and it cleared out for me and it was perfect, and I kind of slowed down and hesitated for a second, and that could’ve been the difference. Those are the ones that go 60 or 70, so I was a little upset by that, but I think I’m just – I don’t want to say just starting to get the feel back, but I feel like I said this word, ‘efficient’. I feel very efficient and I’m just in a completely different place.
 
Q: Was that against the Texans?
A: Yeah, against the Texans. I caught an inside slant and the way that they were playing coverage, they usually had a safety who was kind of over the top, he was kind of robbing it or doing whatever it is, and I went to hit it and I just had a feeling that he was going to be closing in on me and as I kind of hesitated, the DB caught up and that’s a play that I can’t get back, but I will be thinking about for a long time, every time I watch the film. 
 
Q: Why did you hesitate?
A: I just think that’s part of getting back into it. Third game, it’s going to come. When it rains, it pours. 
 
Q: Do you know what quarter that was? 
A: I think it might have been the second quarter.
 
Q: How much do you miss being in the end zone?  It’s been awhile.
A: I love being in the end zone. It has been awhile. It’s been awhile even just being on the field, so getting in the end zone, of course I want to get in there but when it comes, it’s going to come.
 
Q: Are you frustrated because you haven’t gotten there?
A: Do I look frustrated?
 
Q: Do you feel frustrated that you haven’t gotten there?
A: No. I’m alright.
 
Q: How close do you think you are to that being second nature to just seeing that moment?
A: It’s right there. The fact that I can know and acknowledge it is a big step. Like I said, I think it was in the second quarter and I just felt it. I just was like, if you just would’ve ran all the way, you would’ve had that extra step, you could’ve hit that gear. It reminded me of the exact play, it was the Jets, I think it was in 2016 or something like that, I caught it, took the slant 70 or whatever, and that was the exact play. I just could remember and feel it, and now that I know, I think that was a big step for me.
 
Q: When you’re playing a team like the Saints, are you sitting there going, ‘we better put up points’, or do you sit there and let the defense worry about that?
A: I let the defense worry about that, but at the same time this is Drew Brees and the Saints we’re talking about. I grew up in New Orleans, he gave life to a city when we were – I don’t want to say hopeless, but we were all down. This is a team who is scoring 40 points a game, what they’re doing over there is ridiculous. They’ve been doing that. So, yes. At the same time, you worry about it, you have to let the defense worry about it, but what we worry about more is scoring more points than they score and that’s all we can really do which is a challenge.
 
Q: You jumped into the pregame huddle. What prompted that and what was the message?
A: It was just on my heart, just to have some energy, to have some life, and remember that this is football. This is what you sacrifice weekend after weekend, friends, family, all kinds of things that you gave up to be able to do this every Sunday. I don’t want to have to wait another week for this moment to come by, so take advantage of the one that we have right in front of us, and that was just my message. (Alec Ogletree) followed it up with exactly that, and we just came out, we had energy even in the locker room before the game I was yelling the whole time. It’s been too quiet, and we go down 0-2, granted we’re in New York, the place that we’re in is kind of a little panicky, and it just doesn’t need to be that. It’s a long season. We could’ve went 0-2 and then win 14 in a row, or whatever it is. My message was to have fun, it wasn’t about winning, it wasn’t about anything, it was about ‘have fun’ and play for the man next to you and we did that.
 
Q: On [Saints CB] Marshon Lattimore – What is the challenge of going against him?
A: I think he was the defensive rookie of the year last year, I presented him the award, so I know that he’s very, very good. Even watching film, he’s just different. I don’t know the word – not sturdy, but he’s just very balanced, and he’s very good. We’ve got a challenge ahead of us, I don’t know exactly if it’s going to be a match up, if he’s following you here, there, this that and the other, but we have a challenge ahead of us, but I know we’re all up for it.
 
Q: How did he do against Julio [Jones] I’m sure you watched that.
A: We watched the film a little bit, but I don’t know if they were matched up. I’ve seen certain plays that he wasn’t on Julio, or he was on Julio, so I think if I start doing something where if he is on me the whole time, he’s going to stay on me. I don’t know how much they really switch sides and all that. I’m still in there watching them a little bit.
 
Q: Getting one win is nice, but how important here is it to build the momentum and put together a few wins in a row?
A: That’s the goal, obviously. We want to win. Like I said, I want to win every game, so a few in a row, 10 in a row, I want to win them all. Like I said, that’s the goal. We’ve got an opportunity on Sunday, we’ve got to come out and take advantage of it.
 
Q: [Coach Tyke Tolbert] was pretty excited about one of your blocks on Saquon’s run, is it different at all blocking for a guy like him?
A: It’s impossible. He’s a guy who can go, we’ve got a run called left, he can run left, come all the way back right, and then go all the way back left and score. Basically what you want to do for him is you want to get your hat on a man, and know that he’s going to make somebody miss, he’s going to break a tackle, just don’t let your man make the tackle pretty much.
 
Q: You’re one of several guys in this locker room who talked either Sunday after the game or yesterday about energy. Why does that matter so much?
A: It’s contagious. Energy is contagious. I know on days where I’m dealing with something personally and I don’t come in here with the same energy, it’s noticed. It’s noticed a lot around the locker room and that’s been my biggest challenge, to bring that energy every day. It’s not easy, but to bring that energy and to give it off to other people. Everybody in this locker room, I talk to everybody, and just try and encourage us to be a team because at the end of the day, us is all we have. Once you step on that field, there’s not anybody who can help us win the game. We’re all we got, and we’ve just got to be together, be one.
 
Q: Contagious. That’s [Jarvis Landry’s] line.
A: Contagious. That’s what we talked about. You’re right… That’s what Jarvis and I, that’s what I grew up on is that contagious energy, that contagious even love, just showing love. It really is contagious, so the bad energy can be contagious, the negative energy can be contagious, the good, all of it is contagious. It’s just about making sure we bring the right stuff.
 
Q: With no Evan Engram in the lineup, that’s one big play guy you don’t have. Does that put more stress on your big play guys to make more since he’s not there?
A: I think it puts more stress on all of us. We’ve got to pick up for him, unfortunately. I wish that he was playing, I love him. I tell him all the time I think he’s got a chance to be one of the greatest, and it’s just unfortunate what happened, but that’s part of the game. He’ll take some time to recover and get right, and be able to come back strong, but for now, we do have to step up and we do have to make more plays all across the board – (Sterling Shepard), (Saquon Barkley), myself, (Rhett Ellison). Rhett, we call him Mr. Consistent. I do, at least. He always seems like he’s in the right place at the right time, always making the plays, so everybody’s got to step up.
 
Q: You say you hesitated on that play. Are you happy with the way you are playing? Obviously your numbers are pretty good so far.
A: I’m never content. It’s not a word I’d like to use. I don’t know, it’s just something that I’m coming back and I’m trying to feel it out. I regret that moment for life, I’ll watch that film and I will really remember I could’ve taken this 80, but it didn’t happen. I’m happy with what we’re doing, definitely not content, I feel like I could always do more. That’s always going to be my mentality. I could go for 500 yards and I’ll still look back at that one pass that you didn’t get and it’s like, wow, I could’ve gone for 560. You know what I mean? That’s just how my mind is, that’s just how I’m built, that’s how I’m wired.
 
Q: You don’t question that that extra gear is there though?
A: Oh, it’s there. It’s there, I just don’t know why I didn’t hit it. It’s there, though.  
 
Q: On not noticing the good (plays):
A: The thing is with the good, the good is expected. When it rains, everybody’s like, ‘it’s raining today’, but when it’s sunny, it’s not like, ‘oh, it’s a nice day’.