Odell Beckham was handed a 1 game suspension, effective vs the Vikings this next Sunday night. The NFL did what it should have done, something we believed was appropriate when we recapped the game ~24 hours ago.
OBJ Fine History 2014 $10k STL Fighting 2014 $11k PHI Helmet thrown 2015 $9k BUF Fighting … NFL has case for suspension given past record.
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) December 21, 2015
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This NY Giants blog has gone to great lengths to herald the phenomenal ability and star quality of Odell Beckham. We are huge Odell Beckham fans. We have stated on more than a few occasions that Beckham is the biggest impact player to grace a Giants uniform since Lawrence Taylor. We embraced the hyperbole, because Beckham is a truly special player.
Understanding that we love OBJ, we have no tolerance for his rogue behavior.
Wonder: “There are only two sources of greater shame this weekend than Odell Beckham. #1- Tom Coughlin, who lost control of his star player. And #2- the referees, who lost control of the game. If I was Mara, I would have fired Coughlin for discrediting this great & venerable franchise and I would have suspended Beckham myself. As for the referees, they have one job, which is to maintain a fair and functional medium for competitive play. By losing control of the game, they failed Beckham, the two teams who were competing, the NFL, and themselves.”
Know this- that if Coughlin OR the Referees were doing their job, Beckham would be playing this weekend vs the Vikings because he never would have had the opportunity to go nuclear. The helmet to Norman’s head was in Q3! He should have been benched or thrown out well before that point.
I love football. Despite Goodell’s attempt to suck the NFL dry, it is still the best team sport out there. But I will under no circumstances support a product where my player/s are not held to a high enough measure of sportsmanship. Yes, football is a dirty sport. I am not going to preach that the NFL is full of a bunch of choir boys having weekly lovefests. It is physical and violent. But at the end of the day, at the end of the whistle, there are enough rules to make it as fair as possible and protect the players from each other. Watching Beckham violently targeting Norman, whether it was retaliation or not, is not acceptable under any circumstances. In its mildest form, it is unsportsmanlike. In its strongest form, it is attempted manslaughter. I will not support it. It is not the sport I love. It is not the way I was taught to play sports. There needs to be zero tolerance for it in the league I watch. And there needs to be even more stringent standards (if that is possible) for the football team I root for, the NY Giants. I do not care if you deal me a team of 22 stars who guarantee me a Super Bowl. If they are disrespecting themselves, the league, and the Giants, I’ll quit watching before I support them.
The Giants now face the Vikings without their number one star. Coughlin’s error in not controlling Beckham now costs him and the franchise even more. This is the price you pay for making poor decisions. Between all of the mistakes made this season, it is an exclamation point on the need for change. Coughlin has sown his own fate too many times over the past 4 years. The list seemingly grows with each game. There is a sense of denial, from all sources, that it is Beckham’s fault, Coughlin’s fault, Reese’s fault, Barnes’ fault or Mara’s fault that these bad things continue to happen. The Giants organization has seen many better days. Today is not a lowlight. It is a symptom of the problems that have been there for quite a while. John Mara should have learned from Malcolm Gladwell that his instinct to clean house after the Jacksonville loss in 2014 was not unfounded. It was an acute moment that underscored greater pathology.
The Giants are always a year too late in the firing of their head coaches. Ray Handley was a disaster from the start. Players were mutinying well before his second season. George Young called it his greatest mistake. This blogger warned Accorsi about Fassel’s inability to handle prosperity BEFORE the 2002 49er playoff implosion. He was brought back in 2003 and the team went 4-12, with Fassel stepping down before the season was over. Coughlin’s number is up with the Giants, and the only thing stringing along the obvious is a pathetic NFC East that somehow makes a weak 6-8 team “alive” for a playoff bid. Frankly, I wouldn’t care if the Giants made it to the playoffs at 8-8 and won a playoff game (which they won’t).. it is ridiculous to keep sweeping problems under the rug anymore. All that does is source more denial and more problems.. like star players getting suspensions. It is time for change.
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