Let’s get this out of the way at the top — Odell Beckham felt officials performed their jobs quite poorly during the New York Giants’ 24-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but those officials were not the reason why the Giants lost the game. Unless an official told Eli Manning to lob a pass to Lawrence Timmons or he’d be ejected from the game, the officials had minimal bearing on a crappy Giants performance.
Beckham did make strong points about some bad calls Sunday and the fact this is the same crew that lost control of the Panthers-Giants Beckham-Josh Norman game last season and issued warnings to the pair before the Washington-Giants game earlier this season. That was the infamous game that ended with Beckham fighting a kicking net.
But when asked about the call against the Steelers and the fact it was the same crew, Beckham told the New York Post, “put two and two together.”
During the first quarter, Beckham was flagged for a offensive pass interference, a dubious call that should have been a no-call on both him and Steelers defensive back Ross Cockrell. There was some hand-fighting but no one impeded anyone from getting to a (shockingly) overthrown deep ball by Manning. But what got Beckham upset was when he asked an official for an explanation of the call. From the Daily News:
“I went up and asked him what was going on, what was the flag, and he said, ‘Get out (of) my face,'” Beckham said. “The refs aren’t the reason we lost the game. The Giants are the reason we lost the game … (But) I don’t really think we should have this crew anymore when the Giants are playing with the past history and everything that’s going on.”
The headline in this situation will always be, “Beckham Frustrated, Goes Off On Referees Again.” But really, what’s all that outlandish about what he’s saying? Yeah, calls get missed during games, but this crew seems to have problems doing its job and explaining a call to someone. Beckham got held a bunch Sunday but can you blame someone for getting upset when someone (Mike Mitchell) presses his forearm against their throat while they’re on the ground and there’s no call?
But the frustration here doesn’t stem from a diva receiver not getting the ball. Beckham had 16 (SIXTEEN!) targets against the Steelers and turned them into 10 catches for 100 yards. His frustration seems to stem from a legitimate place — bad officiating for three hours. If I was ready to fight someone over the officials picking up a flag after Will Tye got hit so late that his head had turned down field to watch another Eli overthrow, imagine the guy who has something real on the line with that call.
That was also Mitchell delivering the incredibly late blow.
Sometimes officiating is bad and you have to get it off your chest. Just ask Jim Harbaugh.
