WATCH: Coach Tom Coughlin on Beckham, Vikings, and state of the #Giants https://t.co/1Li6lhhdke
— New York Giants (@Giants) December 23, 2015
New York Giants' coach Tom Coughlin opened his Wednesday press conference with an impassioned defense of Odell Beckham Jr., saying "There was two sides to this and not just one."
"To depict this as Odell Beckham being wrong, and the only one wrong, is not right. It's not fair, it's not justice, it's not the way it was. If you're naive enough to think that way then you better do some soul-searching yourself," Coughlin said. "Beckham certainly was wrong, and we said he was wrong from Day 1. But, there are factors involved, starting in pre-game, which are well-documented, which indicate that there was an attempt to provoke him, he was provoked, he was out of control, he was wrong, there's no doubt about it, you'd like that that didn't happen.
"But the fact of the matter is if you know the situation pre-game with the baseball bat and if you know what occurred at the very beginning of the game you can understand that there was two sides to this and not just one."
The coach said the Giants have approached the league office to explain their side of Sunday's events.
Coughlin said he is "aware, but not aware" of what is being written and said in the media about he situation and his handlng of it.
"I don't spend time 'oh what did they say?' " he said. "We lost a very, very tough football game, that's what I know."
Other than that, Coughlin deflected questions about Beckham.