The Giants are still looking for something to celebrate

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Eleven-year long snapper Zak DeOssie sits on the right side of Odell Beckham Jr., in the Giants’ locker room. Fifth-year quarterback Geno Smith sits on the left. A constant parade of media and a bubbly circus of activity often ascend there for both veterans to navigate.

NFL lockers are not assigned by accident.

So, what do DeOssie and Smith share with Beckham?

“My personal conversations with Odell will remain personal,” DeOssie said. “But Odell is my teammate, he’s growing into the young man he will become, he’s a superstar, he’s doing his best and I’m here for him every day.”

Smith was more stark.

Not surprising, considering the heat, the glare, the grind, the whipping he took across town as the Jets’ franchise quarterback who eventually was not.

“It’s coming for Odell, but sometimes you only know what you know,” Smith said. “He’s growing. Give him time. He’s OK. This latest thing is just one more thing, that’s all.”

A “thing” that got Beckham called into the Giants owner’s office.

On the way to an 0-3 Giants start, Beckham scored a touchdown in Philadelphia last Sunday then celebrated by crawling like a dog and acting like he was peeing.

I talked to eight of his Giants teammates in the locker room on Wednesday who said they thought it was funny. No harm, no foul. But it was flagged as a penalty in the game. And Giants owner John Mara was not amused.

Beckham said his talk with Mara was good. He said he will find a new way to celebrate touchdowns. He sounded confused over what is allowed and what is not in the NFL’s new, relaxed scoring celebrations. He said he wanted to continue to be a spark for the Giants.

The whole Giants bunch is still trying to figure out how to balance how much they need him without the extra headaches and distractions that accompany him.

How to kill the foolishness without killing the fire.

“We’ve got a plan for it and a plan moving forward,” is how Giants coach Ben McAdoo described it, as FBI and CIA as you get, a cloaked plot that possibly includes benching Beckham periodically in the way they indeed considered last year but denied.

“It was a poor reflection on me and a poor reflection on the organization,” McAdoo added.

That’s not what Beckham said. That’s not what his teammates said.

The Giants just keep fooling themselves with all of these trickery end games and mixed messages and hidden codes and it is showing up in everything they do, especially in the way they are playing football.

It is a disjointed effort thus far, an 0-3 record truly earned and deserved, a bunch that has fewer first downs than its opponents and less possession time. A group with fewer rushing yards (by a lot, 460-146) and more sacks allowed than earned. A big, bad defense that has not yet recorded an interception.

A group that back in July was talking Super Bowl and undefeated season (see defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul) as well as Dallas counting on being dethroned in the NFC East (see safety Landon Collins) that now can’t seem to translate what they are practicing into game performance.

A team that has lost all three of its games to NFC opponents with another, Tampa Bay, up next.

A team that has scored 3, 20 and then 24 points in its games— up, up, up, true, but a team still sunk.

“We may not be where we want to be but maybe we needed this to get our attention,” tight end Jerell Adams said about his team’s winless start. “I think we might have been a little too confident.”

You think?

Because confidence without execution and intelligent play equals 0-3.

“We need to win,” receiver Sterling Shepard said, wincing when he said it and punctuating in his simplicity on a day of Giants pow-wows and smoke signals.

I do not believe for a second that even the majority of Beckham’s teammates agree with the choice or the standard of his peeing celebration on last Sunday. But they do believe it crucial to back their teammate. Paramount to stay united.

Collins said he was not sure how the team would respond at Tampa to the protest questions ripe in the NFL. We’ll talk, he said. We’ll see. Another Giants pow-wow.

The Giants need action, less talk. They need Beckham to keep raising his game and contributions on the field and to properly embrace grace that should come with it. It’s not too late to stop talking about it and simply demand it.

They need Eli Apple to perform like a second-year cornerback and not a rookie, to get his hands on the balls coming his way and be more competitive. Offenses are finding him, looking for him when a big play is required. Apple must answer.

And they need running back Paul Perkins to assert. Be quicker, better. Give the Giants a jolt in a running game that is averaging a measly 48.7 yards per game.

Perkins was asked is it the line? Is it the play calling? Is it the scheme?

“It’s me,” he said. “I’ve got to play better and do more. I’ve got to have more impact. I’ve got to pay more attention to my details.”

He was bold and direct.

Exactly what all of the Giants need.