By Lucas Mitzel
The NFL has a highlight package on its website of this matchup and all the craziness that ensued from it. To a degree, this sort of thing happens in every game. Football itself is a very physical sport. It is also prone to becoming very heated. The people who play the game are human, after all. We are emotional creatures, and if you’ve never gotten angry in the heat of the moment like Josh Norman and Odell Beckham, Jr. did yesterday, I don’t believe you. That said, I have a feeling most people didn’t react the way Norman and Beckham did.
This game saw 18 combined penalties called on the two teams, a little above the running average of 16.56 penalties accepted, declined, and offsetting called per game so far this season. Norman got flagged twice for unnecessary roughness, while Beckham received three penalties for the same transgression. Amazingly, despite the continuing escalation between these two players that flags weren’t solving, both players were allowed to remain in the game.
Fortunately, the league reviews all penalties of this nature for consideration of further discipline, and in this case, both players need to face supplemental discipline. Norman didn’t help the matter by going back at Beckham or by dragging Beckham to the ground after already tackling him and forcing the football out. Those continued unsportsmanlike actions deserve a sizable fine. After all, it does take two to tango, and since both parties were responsible for yesterday’s debacle, Norman does need to face consequences.
Beckham, on the other hand, deserves a much harsher sentence. He should have been tossed in the first quarter when he removed his helmet following one of the initial fracases, as the league has supposedly told officials to crack down on fighting. I wouldn’t be calling for his head so much were it not for the completely unacceptable hit he delivered on Norman at the end of a play. Defenders are punished every time they lead with the crown of their helmet to deliver a blow to the head of a ball carrier; the roles being reversed should not change that. It was a deliberate attempt to injure, and needs to be dealt with severely. Just fining Beckham isn’t going to do anything; he showed a dark side in this game, and he needs to be made to understand that such things aren’t allowed. A one game suspension is the only way to make sure he understands this, and it also punishes the Giants by forcing their best player to sit. Indirectly it also punishes Tom Coughlin, who deserves some supplemental discipline for failing to keep his superstar in check. I know these are grown adults who make their own choices, but accountability needs to go higher to someone who could have de-escalated the situation but refused to because winning a football game was more important (which is another topic entirely).
Finally, the officials who worked this game deserve to face a harsh sentence as well. In every sport, the officials are there to enforce the rules, but specifically they are there to maintain order and control over the proceedings. I work basketball at the NCAA Division III level as a public address announcer, and every official that I’ve worked with in my years of doing this has always kept the peace, not to say that there haven’t been issues in other areas. That control is the most important part of any athletic contest though, and it is the top priority of every official in every sport. The officials completely lost control of this game early and refused to remove the troublesome parties, even when they were committing blatant assault. Arguably, it impacted the game; Odell Beckham should have been ejected well before he caught the game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Had he been rightfully removed, do the Giants make that comeback and force a field goal at the buzzer for Carolina to win? I’m not convinced they do. Terry McAulay and his crew need to be removed from their game next week for their failures. They need to understand just how serious keeping a game under control is.
It’s sad; this game was just the latest example in a continually growing file that shows how embarrassing the officiating has become this season. People are human and make mistakes, but failing to do your job or getting into a fight with an opponent deserve punishment. That officiating crew, Josh Norman, and especially Odell Beckham need to pay the price.
UKEndZone 