New York Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo admitted this week that the on-field situation between Odell Beckham Jr. "became a distraction," It had to be part of the reason Beckham didn't catch a pass until mid-way through the third quarter, and why the Giants fell behind, 35-7.
"We work in a professional environment and when something gets personal that way, it affects the entire offense. Obviously it affected Odell's performance and affected the offensive performance and became a distraction," McAdoo said. "Unfortunate and it can't happen, we can't let a personal battle take away from our professional environment, and it shined a negative light on the organization, and we can't let that happen.
"With that being said, three and a half hours on a Sunday afternoon, Odell made some bad decisions and got caught up in that personal battle. He made some bad decisions, (in) a three and a half hour window. You can't, in my opinion, attack a young man's character. He's still a high-character young man, we're going to have his back, he's a member of the Giant family, our family, and it's unfortunate that it happened, but we've got to learn from it, we've got to move on, and it's a big game this week."
McAdoo said he believes Beckham will learn from the experience, which led to his one-game suspension.
"He's a high-character young man who during a three hour, three and a half hour window on Sunday he let it snowball on him, made some bad decisions, and couldn't pull himself out of it," McAdoo said. "That's unfortunate that it happened the way it did, but towards the end of the game, started playing better and refocused, re-energized himself and made a play that was big for us on fourth down at the end of the game."
McAdoo said the Giants made "contingency plans" based on not having Beckham this week against the Minnesota Vikings and that they will "put a plan together to attack Minnesota's defense."
About Eli's late-game interception
Quarterback Eli Manning threw a late-game interception Sunday, a ball that appeared intended for Hakeem Nicks in the end zone that Carolina's Charles Tilliman picked off. At the time it appeared Nicks had a chance at the ball until he fell, leaving Tillman an easy interception.
McAdoo said Manning was trying to throw the ball away but that pressure from the Panthers didn't allow him to get enough on the throw. Manning had backpedaled about five yards to get away from the rush and was hit by Kawann Short as he released the ball.
"The ball was out of his hand before he slipped. What happened was as Eli's eyes went to the right, he had to extend the play so he moved, he had to throw the ball away a little bit earlier," McAdoo said. "He was trying actually to throw the ball away and there was some contact there at the end that made it look like he was throwing the ball up for grabs and that wasn't the case and then Nicks slipped and it was an error that could've been avoided if we just came out of the pocket, scrambled early, had a chance to extend the play on the perimeter or just throw it away earlier. Listen to his time clock there and try not to do too much from the pocket."