WR Odell Beckham Jr. -- December 28, 2018
Q: Is it a level of frustration for you the way the last month has gone?
A: Yeah, obviously not the way I wanted to end the season. You train all offseason for these 16 games, plus the chance to go to the playoffs, and it’s definitely not the way I wanted to end the season. Disappointed – myself, teammates, everybody, just the whole community and that’s not the way I wanted to end it. On a positive note, it leaves a huge chip on my shoulder for next year, and just the things that I know I’m capable of doing. It’s just time to do them and put my best foot forward next year. I think next year will be the best year I’ve had in my entire career. That’s the only positive that I can take from all of it. I wish that I could be playing, but it is what it is.
Q: How much do you look forward to getting a full 16 game season under your belt?
A: The sky is the limit. Obviously, you want to play every single game. I have kind of a flukish little quad pull, strain, whatever you want to call it. It allows you to miss the last four games of the season. Like I said, the sky is the limit and I know that next year is going to be tough on everybody I play. That’s just how I feel, that’s how I’m coming. I do have a positive outlook for 2019-2020. I say this is going to be my year every year until it is going to be my year. So, next year is going to be my year, and if it’s not next year, the year after is going to be my year. That’s the goal every year.
Q: You just completed your fifth year. The lifespan for NFL players isn’t too long. Do you worry that you’re going to run out of time?
A: No, not really. Not something you really look at. You just kind of stay in the moment. You think about the end, but I’m trying to play into, I should pass (Pro Football Hall of Fame WR) Jerry (Rice), that’s the goal. However long that takes, I feel like I’m capable of doing it. To come back from major ankle surgery and have this, this is nothing. It just took me out of the last four games of the season. Not to say that it’s not serious, because it obviously kept me out. I’ll be fine.
Q: Were there any setbacks along the way where it didn’t heal properly?
A: When you pull a muscle and you try to get back out there, it’s just tough. You just need time off. The only thing that heals – everything is time, and we were just short on time at the moment. It’s really nothing. Once you’re over it, it’s gone. It just was the timing of it. It’s not very fortunate.
Q: With how much time and money you put into your body during the offseason, how frustrating is it when something like this causes you a quarter of your season?
A: It’s life, it happens. I wish I could’ve finished the end of the season, but it is what it is at this point.
Q: Will you change anything in how you train, where you train?
A: No, I’m not going to change anything.
Q: What do you think went wrong this year?
A: It was just the way that it played out. Close games that we didn’t finish on. Since I’ve been here, we’ve lost a lot of games by less than five points. You’re right there, but you can’t get over that hump. My goal is to bring my A+ game next year. I don’t care who is in front of me next year and that’s just how I’m coming. That’s just the bottom line. This season didn’t go the way we wanted. It definitely didn’t go the way I wanted personally, but you take it as a learning lesson and you keep on moving.
Q: Do you want to see (QB) Eli (Manning) back as your quarterback?
A: I love Eli. I’ve been with Eli – he’s the first quarterback I’ve ever had in the league. I threw at him, Manning Camp, high school. There’s a lot of things you want in life. You can’t always get what you want, but at the end of the day I want him to be able to go home and talk trash to his brothers. When it’s his time to go out, I want him to go out the right way. I want him to go out with a trophy so he can go home and, not rub it in their face, but he’s got three rings, they got two, or whatever it is. That’s what I want for him. That’s how I want him to finish. It has nothing to do with me. It’s not my call. I’m just a receiver. That’s above my paygrade.
Q: What do you think this team needs to win next season?
A: We just got to put the pieces together. We were so close this year in so many different ways, in so many different games. Just finding ways to put it all together and it’s been that way for a little minute. It’s just about finding those way to put it all together, score more points, give up fewer points, make plays on special teams, all the little things.
Q: Why didn’t you guys just shut it down if this was going to keep you out for four weeks?
A: I just do what I’m told. If they say we need you to do this, that’s what I’m going to do. I tried my best to get back out there, but it just wasn’t going to happen.
He did indeed until he used the "above my paygrade" finish which is really funny coming from a kid that's worth 100 million dollars.
But I understand what he means - get healthy and see you next year OBJ.
But I didn't feel like he avoided the question nor did it sound like he was throwing Eli under the bus/wanted him gone.
Hopefully if Eli is back, the players in front of him will be better and the defense will go from bottom third to above average.
Tell that to Aaron Rodgers...
Quote:
just said he loves him.
This sounds like a huge reach in YOUR mind not his.
Maybe. I guess with the comments he made at the start of the season in that Josinda Anderson interview, and the fact that he didn't actually come out and say he wants Eli back, just made me a bit concerned with his answer that's all.
It's embarrassing
But I didn't feel like he avoided the question nor did it sound like he was throwing Eli under the bus/wanted him gone.
Hopefully if Eli is back, the players in front of him will be better and the defense will go from bottom third to above average.
Bettcher had a top ten D in Az every year. I am confident that will happen sooner rather than later
Quote:
I think all he meant by that was that Eli's future is out of his hands. I don't think he actually meant for it to have anything to do with money; just that it's not his decision to make and that those are the tough decisions the higher-up's have to handle.
But I didn't feel like he avoided the question nor did it sound like he was throwing Eli under the bus/wanted him gone.
Hopefully if Eli is back, the players in front of him will be better and the defense will go from bottom third to above average.
Bettcher had a top ten D in Az every year. I am confident that will happen sooner rather than later
I like Bettcher - I think he's just severely undermanned. Give him a FS with more range, a legit edge rusher and some slightly better DB depth and there's no doubt he'll have this defense in the top half of the league.
He can coach defense - I still think he was a good hire.
It s amazing the sensitivity on this issue
Sucks how he got hurt though It seems sketchy a pull
or what I though was Bruised .