Giants head coach Pat Shurmur believes that criticism of the team’s lack of deep passes is a “false narrative,” but one of the players who would be on the receiving end of such passes might not agree with him.
Wide receiver Odell Beckham sat down for an interview with Josina Anderson of ESPN that will air in full on Sunday and an excerpt released on Friday features Beckham talking about the issues that have contributed to the team’s 1-3 start to the year. He mentions the lack of deep passes, but said that bigger issues need to get sorted out before the team can go on a run.
“So a lot of it has to do with the energy that we don’t have, that we don’t bring every single day,” Beckham said, via the New York Daily News. “And you know me. I’m a passionate, energetic person. I always have to have that. If I don’t, it’s gonna be a problem for me. And just playing with some heart. We just need to play with some heart. We’re only 1-3, you know. The year we went 11-5, we were 2-3. We ended up being 2-3 after five games. So you never know when you can go on a run. But it’s just a matter of when we gonna go on a run. How come we can’t throw the ball for more than 20 yards? How come we don’t attempt or try to throw the ball for more than 20 yards? Those are questions that we have to figure out, but for now I would say it’s our heart, it’s our energy. It’s what we bring when we line up before the game, all of that. It counts.”
There was a lot of talk about a quick turnaround from last year’s 3-13 record heading into this season, but the Giants haven’t been able to translate those words into action. Beckham’s energy and passion haven’t always been put to productive work during games, but we’ll see if his words spark anything in Carolina this Sunday.