Odell Beckham Jr. sure was worth the wait, and it was love at first sight for Big Blue Nation at MetLife Stadium Sunday.
Eli Manning has a bouncing baby toy, the kind of nuclear weapon he has never really had, not with Plaxico Burress, not with Hakeem Nicks, not even with Victor Cruz, and it is a weapon that can change the complexion of the NFC East in the blink of an eye.
All Beckham (4 rec., 44 yards, 1 TD) did in his long-awaited debut and comeback from the helplessness and loneliness of a debilitating hamstring tear and some jarring tough love from Tom Coughlin was catch the 15-yard touchdown pass from Manning in the fourth quarter that gave the Giants, 30-20 winners over the Falcons, a lead they never relinquished.
A blue streak turning the Giants, winners of three straight, into a Blue Streak — streaking into Philadelphia next Sunday night.
“I remember the national anthem came on,” Beckham said, “and all the emotions, all the stress, the anxiety, the anger, everything that I’ve been dealing with, it just kinda hit me at that moment, and I shed some tears of joy.”
OBJ-oy in Jintsville.
At a time when the Giants were reeling, having fought back from a 20-10 deficit, Beckham showed what a quarterback-friendly receiver he can be when he leaped up and snatched Manning’s pass with Robert Alford trying to mug him.
“I didn’t take the best of releases and didn’t make it the easiest throw for him,” Beckham said.
No matter. Manning looked left and gave No. 13 a chance to make a play.
“Since it was a double-move route, I had an idea that the ball was coming, and I just saw it go up,” Beckham said, “and I’m just thinking in my head, ‘There’s no way that I’m gonna let this one hit the ground.’ ”
So he did “The Whip” in the end zone.
“A-plus,” Cruz rated it.
Manning and Beckham had not practiced the play.
“He did a great job just making a play on it,” Manning said. “Pretty good coverage — obviously the guy was holding him so it makes the coverage better — but he reacted to the ball well.”
Coughlin was impressed.
“The athleticism was obvious to everyone and his speed will have to be reckoned with,” Coughlin said.
But Beckham’s impact on a game, and likely on a season, was on full display late in the third quarter. It was the terror he instilled in the Falcons’ secondary on a failed “Go” route down the left sideline on first down at the Giants’ 19 that changed the complexion of the game, because Beckham showed he’s a clear and present danger to take the top off a defense at any given moment, someone you’d better account for when Manning’s playbook is opened to a four-receiver alignment.
“I think they had to understand that he’s also a threat,” Cruz said, “and they played it differently from then on. They played a little bit more cloud coverage, a little more man underneath, try to bump-and-run us a little bit, so they’re gonna have to change some things up when he’s out there on that field and it’s good.”
Beckham burst past Alford down the left sidelines, only to have Manning heave the ball out of bounds.
“We missed a protection, so I had a guy running free at me. … It looked bad on film, but really, under the circumstances, it was a throwaway for me,” Manning said.
Beckham yawned.
“As bad as you want to go get that one, you can’t get it back,” he said.
He was the 12th pick of the NFL draft. Now we know why.
“Anytime you’re out and you’re injured, and what you love to do is taken away from you, it challenges your character as a man,” Beckham said. “I hear about it every day, and it was a constant reminder of when I get the opportunity, I gotta make the most of it, because you never know when your last one will be.”
He came in on the second possession and caught a 7-yard pass for a first down.
“All right,” Beckham told himself, “now you’re back to playing football, this is what you do.”
Giants fans roared.
“It kinda gave me chills to have our fans behind me like that even after everything that’s happened,” Beckham said, “and the extent of time that I’ve been out, it’s great to know that they support you.”
He looks like a kid who’s about to give the NFC East chills. OBJ-oy in Jintsville.
