Giants coach Ben McAdoo said Monday that wide receiver Odell Beckham still needs to do a better job of controlling his emotions after Beckham threw a sideline tantrum last Sunday that ended with tears in his eyes and a welt on his face as a result of a run-in with a kicking net.
Among the reasons why McAdoo wants to see Beckham check himself is because he thinks he becomes “a distraction to himself and his teammates,” but one of Beckham’s teammates disagrees with the coach’s assessment of the impact of Beckham’s activities. Left guard Justin Pugh said Tuesday that he has his mind on what he needs to do and not on watching to see if Beckham takes a swing at inanimate objects while stalking up and down the sideline.
“No, I didn’t find it distracting,” Pugh said, via NJ.com. “But, obviously, I’m also out there playing. I’m not sitting, watching what’s going on the whole time. I’ve got to worry about what I have to do. Obviously he’s one of the leaders of this team. He’s an emotional guy. We just have to make sure that those emotions are driven to going out there on the field and performing. I think he knows that, he knows that for sure.”
The far more damaging thing for the Giants would be to lose Beckham to another suspension or an injury generated by one of his gyrations. Pugh offered a reminder that Beckham didn’t play when the Giants lost to the Vikings last season as a result of his one-game suspension for his behavior in the team’s loss to the Panthers and they’ll certainly need their top wideout to attract notice for his play if they’re going to avoid another loss to Minnesota next Monday.