Perhaps the St. Louis Rams and their fans at the Edward Jones Dome paid Odell Beckham Jr. the ultimate sign of respect on Sunday. They turned the immensely talented rookie wide receiver into a villian.
What a day the Giants' first-round pick had.
-- He caught eight passes for 148 yards, his third straight 130+ yard receiving game.
-- He now has 79 receptions and 1,120 yards receiving. Both are Giants franchise records for rookies.
-- He had two touchdown receptions, one for 9 yards and one for 80 yards. His 11 touchdowns are also a Giants' franchise record for rookies.
That, I think, takes care of all of the statistical details.
-- Beckham got hit with a taunting penalty after his first touchdown, which precipitated much of the testiness that permeated the rest of the game.
-- The Rams' Tre Mason mimicked a Beckham celebration after scoring a first-half touchdown.
-- St. Louis defenders hit Beckham repeatedly out of bounds, and the rookie wasn't shy about responding to the extra-curricular activity. That led to the fracas that saw three players, including two Giants, get ejected.
-- Beckham was booed by the St. Louis crowd for much of the second half.
Does Beckham need to tone it down a little bit? Former NFL officiating head honcho Mike Pereira thinks so:
.@OBJ_3 is a heckuva player. But he needs to learn a thing or two about his end zone celebrations Video via @kfc https://t.co/ds9VYetzKg
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) December 21, 2014
Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin agrees.
"He will tone it down. He will. He did," said Coughlin, who spoke to Beckham after the first-quarter taunting penalty.
After his second score Beckham dropped the ball and celebrated briefly, then picked the ball up and handed it to an official.
Coughlin was happy that the Giants, three weeks after losing their poise in Jacksonville in the second half, were able to pull themselves together in the second half.
"We did not allow any of the distractions to keep us from the reason we came here. We came here to win and we did win," Coughlin said.
Beckham was quite obviously a target for the Rams, and it is something he is going to have to get used to.
What are your thoughts, Giants' fans? Did Beckham bring any of the extra-curricular nonsense upon himself, or were the Rams to blame for what went on Sunday?