Philadelphia Eagles rival watch: Has OBJ poisoned New York?
The Philadelphia Eagles are on a short week and travel to meet the New York Giants on Thursday. Waiting for them will be a very distracted rival and their ‘diva’ wide receiver.
Some have said get rid of Thursday Night Football games. Others still acknowledge that it’s good for the money machine that is the NFL. The next installment of the TNF brand features two bitter rivals from the NFC East, the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Some people call them ‘locker room distractions’. Others call them a ‘cancer’. Science has taught us that, at times, in order for cancer to occur in the body, all that needs to happen is for one cell to go ‘rogue’ and start doing something independent of what the body’s other cells are doing.
That kind of sounds like ‘OBJ’, doesn’t it?
Here’s a quick history lesson and some background on where we are now.
The Giants made Odell Beckham Jr. the 12th-overall selection of the 2014 NFL Draft. Since that time, he’s made highlight-reel catches. He’s also brought a ton of attention to himself and the Giants organization. Unfortunately, he’s often done it in that order.
He’s brought attention to himself first. His team has gotten some subsequent attention (some of which has been negative) as a result.
This offseason, the Giants offered him a five-year, $95 million extension. Yes, you read that correctly. That’s a $95 million extension to a man who plays one of the ‘diva positions’ in sports. That’s $95 million to a man who hasn’t helped you reach the Super Bowl (or even the playoffs).
The Giants are off to a 1-4 start in 2018’s NFL season. That places them in the cellar of the NFC East. Oh, and by the way, ‘OBJ’ just made his first touchdown catch of the season this past Sunday versus the Carolina Panthers.
Then. most of the football world saw this later, an interview that aired on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown:
Video courtesy of ESPN’s official YouTube page
Wait. Did the ‘diva’ wide receiver just call out his quarterback and the playcalling on national television? He, later, defended his controversial comments, called it ‘leadership’ and said that they brought his team together.
Here’s some of that conversation:
Video courtesy of MSG Networks’ YouTube page
Obviously, we’re not in the Giants’ locker room a lot, but what we’ve heard through the grapevine is this was ‘handled’ internally. Part of the Giants problem is they’ve decided to make one of their team leaders a guy who throws temper tantrums and gets into fist fights with the kicker’s net.
Now, some of his younger teammates are starting to emulate one of their team leaders. Now, Sterling Shepard‘s starting to go ‘Hulk Smash’ on trash cans.
Take a look:
Video courtesy of The Fumble’s Official YouTube page
He kind of looks like ‘big brother’ out there, doesn’t he? This is the new culture in New York. The Giants have a mess on their hands.
That’s advantage one for Philly on Thursday.