Giants wideout Odell Beckham got caught up in smile-gate over the weekend, one of the most unfortunate trends of this season in which players are criticized for minor displays of emotion on the sideline or after the game when they see their friends.
Beckham "smiled" after friend Antonio Brown scored a 22-yard touchdown on Sunday against the Giants. Pittsburgh would go on to win 24-14.
"Odell, the reaction that I saw from the TV copy, to me was, 'Hey, he made his play and now let's go make ours,'" Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said Monday, via The New York Post. "That is really the way we go about it as a team. If we want to be the best in the league at something, let's be in the best in the league at playing the next play and to me, that was his reaction.''
Here's the moment in question:
While McAdoo's defense of Beckham has at times been awkward and less-than-enthusiastic, we agree with the coach here. Beckham wasn't celebrating an opponent's touchdown. This was the same guy who's had to be calmed down by Eli Manning for going ballistic on the sidelines several times this season. The same one who swung a helmet at the kicking net. Beckham hates losing more than just about any player in the league.
"You can't really sit there and worry about what everybody else has to say about something or somebody's mad because I smiled when he scored," Beckham said. "That man's like a brother to me, he takes me under his wing in the offseason, we train, he's just a good guy," Beckham said. "It's not like I'm sitting there rooting for him against my team, like 'Man, tear it up.'"
If someone wants to probe into Beckham, perhaps mention his physicality or off-and-on alligator arms over the middle. It would at least be a point someone would have to dive into the film and debate. What he -- or any player -- does on the sidelines short of erupting at a fellow player or coach is inconsequential. Beckham, by the way, had his third 100-yard game of the season in that Steelers loss, and second with 10 or more catches.
