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New York Giants fans appear to be almost evenly split on whether Odell Beckham Jr. was right to speak out the way he did in his recent ESPN interview with Josina Anderson. In our ‘Fanpulse’ poll this week, 52 percent of respondents said that Beckham was wrong to speak out. That means 48 percent thought he was right.
Patricia Traina has offered her perspective. I have offered mine. The poll results show us, quite simply, that Beckham’s words have divided the fan base pretty much down the middle.
Here are the perspectives of a couple of former Giants greats.
On this week’s episode of “Inside The NFL” on Showtime, former Giants quarterback and now long-time NFL analyst Phil Simms said he believed Beckham’s comments will “galvanize” the Giants.
“What Odell Beckham Jr. did with that football team, I really believe [that] finally the air is clear. It’s over and I expect the Giants to come out Thursday night and play the Philadelphia Eagles and play their best game of the year … That damage, I think, it will galvanize the football team … I think the Giants can win that division at 1-4 almost as equally as any other team,” Simms said.
“If a little adversity and friction destroys your team, you’re not a team to begin with. I don’t think what went on there is going to destroy the Giants’ football season.”
Hall of Famer Michael Strahan did a conference call with Giants media on Wednesday. Here is his take:
“I almost feel like in some ways I’ve been in Odell’s situation. You say something and you probably have the best intentions in the way that you said it, but at the end of the day it becomes a problem in the way in which people would take it,” Strahan said.
“When you do those things and it comes out you do have to realize that if it’s not taken the way in which you intended you have something you have to answer to. You have to be a man about it, because it can affect your teammates. When you’re in a team sport that’s the last thing you want to do is take away from your teammates and make it seem as if they’re part of a problem.”
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