Giants' Odell Beckham Jr. vows not to lose his cool in matchup against Jaguars' Jalen Ramsey
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Odell Beckham Jr. promises history will not repeat itself.
The star wide receiver of the New York Giants is heading into a showdown against one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, an opponent who has taken the psychological route to hype up what is being billed as one of the premier matchups of the season, let alone opening weekend.
Beckham vs. Jalen Ramsey.
And make no mistake: Beckham is coming to MetLife Stadium to win Sunday when the Giants take on Ramsey and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the opener for both teams.
What Beckham guarantees: he's not about to let the Ramsey hype affect his game the way Josh Norman did three years ago.
Beckham vs. Ramsey won't get the best of him - it will bring out the best in him and his game, which is what the Giants are counting on.
"I think I learned my lesson," Beckham said.
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There were smiles, compliments for Ramsey and the Jaguars and confidence expressed in where the Giants' offense is - and his role within that offense - as Beckham met the media for nearly 10 minutes at his locker Wednesday.
When discussing quarterbacks around the league during an interview with GQ Magazine last month, Ramsey mentioned several he considered quality talent — Kirk Cousins of the Vikings and Derek Carr of the Raiders were among them — before taking a back-handed shot at Manning with praise for Beckham.
“Eli [Manning]… It’s not really Eli. I think it’s Odell. I won’t say Eli’s good, I’ll say Odell’s good," Ramsey said. "And their connection is good."
Three weeks ago, Manning responded when asked of Ramsey's criticism: "Who?"
As for Beckham, shortly after he signed his record-setting five-year, $95 million contract, Ramsey tweeted: "It's going to be a show very soon #BatmanVsTheJoker," although it's unclear who Ramsey believes is the hero and who is the villain.
In his December 2015 encounter with Norman, Beckham was clearly pegged as the latter by most observers around the league despite being provoked by Norman, then with the Carolina Panthers and now with the Washington Redskins.
Beckham ended up serving a one-game suspension for his on-field actions, and that game - even though it was three seasons ago - is still brought up when those critics of Beckham look for fodder.
"To be honest with you, I hadn't watched much tape on Josh before we had played them, and then we came here, and yeah, I remember y'all bringing me information from his interview and saying he said, 'This is sweet, blah, blah, blah,' and the stories and the papers were written. It was all set up to happen what exactly happened," Beckham said. "And I kinda just - I'm seeing things different now, and just knowing that it is going to be a matchup, but it's not something that, it's not going to be something where history repeats itself. I took the cheese, and I can't be mad that anything that happened, I bit on it."
This will be Beckham's first game since he fractured his left ankle last October in a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at MetLife Stadium.