Odell Beckham's early exit to the locker room before halftime and his tardy sideline arrival at the start of the second half drew plenty of attention during the New York Giants' 34-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
After the game, Beckham told reporters he left for the locker room to be administered an IV since he was cramping up.
Television cameras captured Beckham trudging off to the locker room just before the Giants ran their last offensive play of what was a dismal first-half showing that buried them under a 24-6 deficit. He then rejoined his teammates on the sideline after the second-half opening kickoff.
Upon returning, Beckham was fired up. Cameras showed him head-butting and smacking a sideline cooling fan before turning around and shouting while walking among his teammates on the sideline. Shurmur said he didn't see Beckham hit the cooling fan.
"He can't do that. He shouldn't do that," Shurmur said.
Still, it's easy to understand Beckham's apparent frustration and eagerness to motivate his teammates. Eli Manningstruggled the entire night and was unable to generate any drive-sustaining consistency in the passing game. Had it not been for rookie running back Saquon Barkley's superlative effort, there's a very good chance the Giants could have been shut out.
Beckham made six catches on 10 targets for 44 yards. The performance comes in the wake of Beckham voicing his frustrations about the Giants offense in comments that didn't sit well with Shurmur. Beckham tried to explain his feelings to the media after the game.
"I just hate losing. That's the bottom line," Beckham said. "[We] just got to keep going, keep digging, keep digging ... it's really all you can do -- keep digging and working harder or you can give up, and I don't think anybody in here is giving up."
With the Giants standing at 1-5 on the heels of their third consecutive loss, it's clear the team is heading down the same trajectory that characterized last season's campaign. Beckham said the team needs to respond.
"The record is what it is," Beckham said. "How you overcome that, how you handle adversity, that's just going to be our M.O."
