The New York Giants carried out a 14 point comeback to win as underdogs this week against the Green Bay Packers. Without the New York safety performed purposefully to waste time, the Packers would have scored zero points in the second half. Within the storm of outrage from the Packers fans, there is a call to bring in star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. after he tweeted complimenting Aaron Rodgers. Although the question is, would Odell Beckham Jr. save our season?
One major question mark would be that Beckham is coming off a torn ACL. Before being carted off the field in the second quarter of Super Bowl LVI, he had 2 catches for 52 yards proving he can perform at the very highest level. Before this he was a standout receiver for the Giants, catching for over 1,000 yards in all-bar-one of his 5 seasons there. He then went to the Cleveland Browns where, apart from the first season with them, he was in and out of the team and never really got going. Rodgers said on the Pat Mcafee show “Odell and I have been friends for a number of years now”. This professional relationship would hopefully bring Beckham Jr back to his old form and avoid the chemistry issues he had in Cleveland. There is no doubt he is a top level receiver but he would not return until after Thanksgiving meaning he wouldn’t have played a game for approximately 8 months. How he will play when he returns is unknown, but you would have to be skeptical and not expect an instant return to top form.
Another question would be do the Packers really need him? I think without a doubt the answer is yes! This week against the Giants, Rodgers was 0/5 on passing attempts of 20 yards or more. He failed to connect with Allen Lazard multiple times, along with missing deep throws to Romeo Doubs. Without a doubt having a reliant deep threat would help the Packers.
I think the only other question would be can we win without him? This might sound like a stupid question after this weeks result, but many people are putting todays loss down to the poor play calling on both sides of the ball. Rodgers threw the ball twice in a row with only two yards until the 1st down in the red zone, resulting in a turnover on downs. Furthermore, Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon were only handed the ball 19 times in total despite being such an effective part of this year’s offense. Also, our defensive coordinator Joe Barry has had constant criticism this season, and is really wasting the talent we have this year on defense. With smarter play calling and a top level defensive coordinator the Packers would likely have held on to win this week and wouldn’t have needed overtime to beat the New England Patriots.
In conclusion, I cannot see a negative of taking the risk of bringing Odell Beckham Jr in on a short term deal. Although there are definitely other issues that we need to fix in the meantime.
