It took all of one Monday Night Football game for the criminalization of L.A. Odell Beckham to start.
It was more than expected to happen as that seems to be par for the course for the talented receiver regardless of the situation.
Forget the fact that he only signed with the Rams last Thursday, November 11th.
Ignore that he barely had a full practice with the offense.
And definitely don’t remember all of the blame, drama, pressure and criticism he had to endure this season while still with the Browns.
It’s a practice some employed when trying to hype up, vindicate, and, in some ways excuse, Baker Mayfield. Actions that villainized Beckham in the process.
Instead, let’s all pile on the talented yet oft-blamed receiver for the Rams shocking loss to the 49ers on Monday night in San Francisco.
The much-heralded defense couldn’t stop Deebo Samuel, but by all means, aim for Beckham’s neck.
By being targeted three times and catching two passes for 18 yards, he is solely to blame for the team’s beatdown.
Beckham barely played, much less received quality practice time with the Rams, so we didn’t expect much.
Yet apparently much was expected by fans and the media, resulting in the blame game being played at his expense once again.
In New York, he was ridiculed for crying and getting into a fight with a kicker’s net.
In Cleveland, he was criticized for not gelling with the offense, something that’s difficult to do when you seldom see the ball as often as you should.
And in one game with the Rams, where the team was dismantled by the 49ers 31-10, a target was emblazoned once again on his back.
His performance was called “lackluster” and “disappointing”, adding to the negative energy that seems to always hover close to the former All-Pro receiver.
Yet Beckham, as he does most of the time, did not succumb to the blame game.
“They played better than us in all phases of the game,” said Beckham after the game. “They just out-played us. . . . It just wasn’t our night. There’s no way around it, it just wasn’t our night. All three phases of the game.”
He’s absolutely right.
The Rams were destroyed in every aspect of the game. That would not have changed even if Beckham’s much-hyped arrival resulted in an explosive night.
Many came to the defense of Odell, including Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers who, himself, was trying to make a comeback on the field after his ridiculous, excuse-laden tirade on The Pat McAfee show two weeks ago.
“I wouldn’t judge one performance,” said Rodgers of Beckham. “He obviously had some plays that he felt good about, but he wasn’t playing most of the fourth quarter when they were in no huddle stuff. So obviously he has some ways to go learn the offense, and you know, it’s a similar offense to what we run. It’s not one that I feel like you can really jump in at certain positions and just know it right away. There’s four or five teams that run it but it’s not all over the league; it has different terminology and signals and splits and alignments. So I would definitely reserve judgement on writing off OBJ. I think he’s got a lot of really productive years left in his career.”
No player, star or not, makes an immediate, completely seamless transition to a new team.
Especially not in two days’ time.
Instead of ragging Odell Beckham after one game, recognize that the team suffered a huge loss with the talented and extremely popular Robert Woods. Appreciate what Odell can bring to the team once he’s given the opportunity to learn the playbook and get practice reps in.
Also understand that, with the moves to get Von Miller and Beckham, the Rams are all in this year. As a result, losing won’t be tolerated.
The Rams have their bye this week, which means that Beckham will get some of that much-needed time to work with the offense.
So just relax and let Odell Beckham breathe in the winning ways in SoFi Stadium.
It’s much cleaner than what’s going on in Cleveland.
