Browns receiver Odell Beckham Jr. ultimately wants to win football games. When his team doesn’t win, and when he’s not involved much in the game, he believes that, if he were more involved, the team would be more likely to win.
On Sunday, the Browns lost and Beckham didn’t have much involvement. As a result, he showed frustration on the sideline on multiple occasions during the game, from throwing his helmet to removing his cleats before the game had ended.
The Browns understandably downplayed the situation in post-game press conferences, quotes from which were distributed by the team.
“Just normal frustration when you come out and you get beat like that,” coach Kevin Stefanski said. “You just have to make sure one [loss] does not turn into two. That is this game, and then we have a big one next week.”
Stefanski is right. With a trip to Cincinnati looming, the Browns can’t afford to let Sunday’s outcome linger, or Cleveland will be vulnerable to an upset and a 4-3 record. (Stefanski’s former team, the Vikings, learned a thing or two about one loss becoming two this weekend.)
“We are all very frustrated,” quarterback Baker Mayfield explained to reporters regarding Beckham’s apparent frustrations. “We want to win. We do not come out here just to get stats and do all that. We come out here to win. It is a frustrating loss for us knowing that we just did not play well and let a great team capitalize on all those mistakes that we made. We are all frustrated.”
Receiver Jarvis Landry, a close friend of Beckham’s, likewise explained that Beckham showing some fire doesn’t mean there’s a problem.
“We are all invested,” Landry said. “I think the thing for us is that we have to figure out a way as a team and as a group. . . . He brought us together as a leader of this team there right before halftime and after halftime and just kind of talking and positive messaging. He was trying to get us going because we could not get in any type of rhythm. If that is all you guys saw, then that is why I am sure I got the question.”
Beckham got no questions because he wasn’t made available for a post-game Zoom press conference.