Bills Not Surprised by Odell Beckham’s Latest Antics
By Brad Hemmer
Odell Beckham’s dirty play in a loss to the Carolina Panthers last week has dominated the sports headlines. It was announced that Beckham will serve a one game suspension for many cheap plays against Carolina’s Josh Norman, according to ESPN. Much of the football world was taken by surprise by how unsportsmanlike Beckham was, but the Bills already knew this back in October.
Numerous Buffalo players claimed OBJ was throwing punches during the loss to the Giants, but no one took them seriously. Duke Williams was hit with a Odell punch right in front of an official said, “He likes to throw cheap shots here and there and gets away with it. Right in front of the referee and he threw a jab at me and ran behind his teammates.” Preston brown, who was somehow flagged during this game after watching Beckham punch teammate Nigel Bradham said “They were throwing a lot of cheap shots.”
Even the mild-mannered Stephon Gilmore had a lot to say after facing Beckham. “He’s different. It’s kind of like you’re playing your little brother and he gets mad at you for being too physical with him — throwing a tantrum. I’m like, ‘Man, we’re playing football. It’s a physical game. … He’s a prima donna. He feels like he’s on top of the world and nobody’s supposed to do anything to him.”
There was plenty of video evidence to prove what Bills players said was true, however the NFL only fined him $8,681, according to ESPN. When asked about it OBJ simply brushed it off and even blamed the Bills somehow saying, “I get punched every single game. I get hit in my face every single game. These are grown men out here. I don’t think anybody should be talking about what happened after they lost a game.” Really? You get punched in the face every game? I don’t think so Odell, you get tackled not viciously punched in a dirty play.
Tom Coughlin chalked it up to simply good blocking. Watch the video in this link, and tell me if you think this is “good blocking.” It shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Coughlin left Beckham in the game vs. Carolina after watching Odell punch players on the Bills and say it was good blocking.
The NFL has always been a league where the stars are protected, and we can see Odell is no different. The guy simply get away with everything. Even though he was flagged many times on Sunday, he was allowed to stay in the game when he clearly should have been ejected. That was arguably the worst officiating gaffe of the year, and there have been many. Odell Beckham should have been ejected immediately after launching helmet first at the head of Josh Norman.