Odell Beckham Jr. is just getting started

You might be surprised to learn that Odell Beckham Jr. made more receptions than just The Catch as a rookie in 2014. Not that it really matters. The Catch of the year of the decade of the century is just the kind of thing that vaults a player from being a very good rookie to the cover of Madden. A great moment in an outstanding year, and this week, Beckham has the chance to start his second NFL season with a milestone.

After missing all of September with a hamstring issue, Beckham had a solid October with 10 receptions, 106 yards and three touchdowns. He caught fire as soon as November rolled around, opening the month with an eight-catch, 156-yard performance in a loss to the Colts.

Over the last nine games of the 2014 season Beckham never again had less than 90 yards a game. That ties him with Michael Irvin for the most consecutive games with 90 or more receiving yards. Another 90 yards, or more, this week would make it 10 games in a row, making it an NFL record to call his own.

Beckham finished the season with an average of 108.8 yards per game, best in the NFL. Extrapolate his performance out to a full 16-game season and it would have been one of the best ever recorded by a receiver, as Bill Barnwell at Grantland noted over the summer. That article has another important takeaway: it’s damn near impossible for a player to reach those levels again the next season.

Another season averaging more than 100 yards per game may be tough, but a 10th game of 90+ yards seems more achievable.

Here’s the list of players who have streaks of at least six games with 90 or more yards (via Pro Football Reference).

The Giants are playing the Cowboys this week, Sunday night in Dallas. New York famously owns a 4-2 record against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, but they’re on a two-game losing streak there. Beckham caught four of six targets at AT&T Stadium for 34 yards in Week 7 at Dallas last season, with a pair of touchdowns. That also happened to be the first game of the year the Giants were without Victor Cruz. The next week, as Eli Manning’s No. 1 receiver, Beckham’s streak began.

Dallas’ secondary will be without Orlando Scandrick, their best cornerback, so we could get Brandon Carr trying to cover Beckham again. The last time Carr was covering Beckham, The Catch happened (no wonder Carr said he’s tired of hearing about it).

Beckham caught all four passes thrown his way when Carr was covering him in that game last year, according to Pro Football Focus. He hauled in 10 of 11 total targets for 146 yards and two touchdowns that night, so it’s not like Carr was the only one struggling to cover Beckham.

Racking up another 90 yards or more against the Cowboys defense shouldn’t be a problem for Beckham on Sunday night. Even if he doesn’t repeat his level of production from his rookie season this year, that will give Beckham his own little corner of the record book, something he’ll be adding to in the seasons ahead.