Odell Beckham Jr. accounted for nearly 40 percent of the New York Giants' receiving yards and two of the three touchdowns in Monday night's 27-23 win in San Francisco.
Beckham, however, said after the victory -- just the Giants second of the season -- he left a lot of plays on the field.
"I'm not disappointed or upset, but I am a little... I felt like I could've done better," Beckham said after the win. "There were routes that I feel like (Richard Sherman) Sherm was jumping on. I was seeing him break and I'm trying to get out of my break because he's already breaking before I am. So there were just some plays that I felt like I left out there that, like I always tell y'all, I never forget them."
OBJ later doubled-down on the personal assessment of his play.
On the one hand, yes, Beckham's numbers could have been ridiculous. The night started off with an uncharacteristic drop. Beckham's 73 yards and two touchdowns came on just four receptions. He was targeted 11 times for the night.
On the other hand, Eli Manning grossly underthrew OBJ on a deep shot that would have been a wide open, easy, walk-in touchdown had the QB owned the arm strength to get the ball that far down the field. On the play, Beckham torched his defenders only to have to pull the emergency brake and allow the defensive backs to make up the ground. Earlier in the tilt, Manning didn't see that the 49ers left Beckham uncovered at the goal line, for what would have been another easy score. Instead, the Giants handed the ball off, Saquon Barkley was stuffed, and Big Blue settled for a field goal.
So, Beckham is right, he and the Giants left some plays on the field. Those admissions are a lot easier to swallow after a win.
OBJ noting that he can play better in a victory is the sort of point leaders make to keep the team focused on stacking wins.
Beckham was asked if getting out of the NFL's cellar with a win salvaged the season.
"Salvage? Hmm, we're working on seven more games," he said. "We're working on Tampa. We'll see what happens after that. So I don't know about salvaging. I wasn't joking when I said we've got to win eight games. That's obviously the goal. I don't come here just to line up and lose, right? We come here to win these games. So all we could, like I said, is worry about Tampa."
"It was just time. It was just time. We've been in many close games. We knew how to lose them. We just had to find a way to win and we did."
Some might not like it or choose to ignore it, but Beckham is talking like a leader, which he's been this whole time in his own way.
