The Odell Beckham, Jr. Backlash is About More than OBJ

No athlete loses good will more quickly than a wide receiver. They are responsible for some of the more dazzling plays in sports, and that probably requires, and also perpetuates, a massive ego. Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, and Chad Ochocinco are just a few recent names who went from delighting fans and media members to becoming targets, blamed as the sole reason for why their teams floundered. Sometimes that image can be rehabilitated; after offending Joe Buck with his disgusting act, Moss went on to be a key veteran cog in an unstoppable New England offense, and now a pretty great analyst. But more often than not, the story ends like it did for Owens and Ochocinco: legacies as cancerous afterthoughts. Now, not two years after he wowed everyone with his absurd catch against the Cowboys, the tide is turning against Odell Beckham Jr.

After that catch, Beckham was such a star that websites and news organizations were reporting on his pre-game warmups. He was just that electric. But things started to go south for him last season when he and then Panthers cornerback Josh Norman engaged in some dirty dueling. Their face-off continued this year, with Norman now playing for Washington; during that game, Beckham had a sideline meltdown that resulted in a knockout at the hands of a kicking net. The Giants receiver caught a lot of heat after that game, with one reporter going so far as to interview sports psychologists who said that this individual they had never treated needed to "get a grip on anger management issues."

Beckham is obviously not without fault; he seems to be easily rattled and clearly plays with a fire that he is not able to control all the time. That can be a tough combination to navigate, especially in a game that lends itself so well to war metaphors. Coaches, fans, and media want players to be gladiators but also stone-cold assassins whenever anything goes haywire. And lord help you if you cost your team precious yardage if you lose your cool—the authoritarian thumpers will come calling for you.

And come they did on Monday night, when Beckham got tagged for an iffy taunting penalty after a late hit from Minnesota's Xavier Rhodes on the sideline. He was clearly hit out of bounds and, yes, bumped into Rhodes. But this wasn't taunting, Beckham thought a penalty should have been called and was upset when he didn't get the flag. That happens a lot in the NFL, and without incident. A referee away from the play wound up throwing a flag, likely because Beckham has now solidified a specific reputation and the league and officials are on the lookout. If they wanted to hit him with a misconduct penalty for bumping the ref, I'd say that would have been more appropriate, but even that seemed incidental or even accidental. None of this is meant to excuse Beckham—he's earned that reputation, and he did bump both the player and the referee—but the flag, and the response the play got elsewhere, was entirely due to Beckham and his reputation, not the play itself.

Understatement of the Week:
Beckham's got to grow up.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) October 4, 2016

Beckham is just a child.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) October 4, 2016

A great player, but so immature.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) October 4, 2016

Stop the defense of Beckham. Great players get hit borderline out of bounds and jog back to the huddle. He goes batcrap. It's got to stop.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) October 4, 2016

Peter King is not alone here; his were just the most on-message comments following the dust-up. Odell Beckham Jr. will be 24 years old in a month. Peter King literally called him a child because he didn't fit into his sentient-robot-skilled-at-catching-footballs paradigm for NFL players. No one seems to have a problem when Bill Belichick acts like a baby and throws his tablet on the sideline, though—that just gets chalked up to his competitive fire. But he's won so much, he's earned that, the argument always goes, which means that you can be a child if you win enough.

Looking at the Giants' schedule, and the way the offense has played this season—Beckham and quarterback Eli Manning have looked out of sync for much of it, including last night—Beckham doesn't seem to be anywhere near earning that same right. It should surprise exactly no one that the moralizers who love and cover the NFL, not to mention the league itself, will give you every benefit of the doubt so long as victorious ends eventually justify the means.