What took so long for the Giants to get on the right path with Odell Beckham Jr.?
When coach Tom Coughlin this week pleaded, “Everybody settle down and let the kid get better,’’ he should have looked in the mirror first. He sets the tone for coverage of injuries by the face he puts on them publicly. He has gotten much, much better at trying to be helpful and honest with the barrage of “How’s he doing?” injury questions he is hit with on a daily basis, but his frustration got the better of him this summer.
His verbal prodding for Beckham to get on the field no doubt played a part in Beckham convincing himself he was good to go before he was. The result was a setback, and now the first-round pick will miss the first few games of the season.
These situations usually are misrepresented anyway. You kept hearing “Boy, Coughlin must be really ticked at Beckham,” when the reality was Coughlin was ticked at a certain muscle in Beckham’s right leg — the hamstring. There never was any indication Beckham was dogging it or not diligent in his rehab. These things take time. If he did not rush back prematurely, perhaps he would have been on the field come Monday night against the Lions, rather than back home, watching on the tube.