Berea, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Odell Beckham Jr. blasted Gregg Williams Thursday, accusing the Jets defensive coordinator of targeting him in a 2017 preseason game while Williams was with the Browns.
In that preseason game in Cleveland at FirstEnergy Stadium, Beckham suffered a high ankle sprain following a low hit to the knee by former Browns cornerback Briean Boddy-Calhoun.
“It’s something that I’ll never forget,” Beckham said. “It changed my life forever.”
Beckham understands injuries happen, but based on conversations he had with some Browns players about that game, he felt targeted by Williams, which to this day angers him.
“It’s preseason. It’s like a known rule, in preseason nobody in the NFL’s really out to do stuff like that,” Beckham said. “I had players on this team telling me that that’s what he was telling them to do, take me out of the game, and it’s preseason. So you just know who he is. That’s the man calling the plays.”
Beckham never fully recovered from that injury, which he feels had a domino effect on him and his final two injury-filled seasons with the Giants. A few weeks after returning in Week 2, Beckham suffered a broken left ankle, causing him to miss the final 11 games of the season.
“That’s exactly what it did. I came back too early for my team. I gave them all I had even though I knew that I was still three weeks out,” Beckham said. “I felt that pressure to be able to come out there and do what I can to help the team, so I just came back too early on an ankle that was already — if God wouldn’t have blessed me the way that I am, I probably would’ve blown my knee in that preseason game if I couldn’t have gotten my foot out of the ground.
“And that high ankle sprain led to the broken ankle on the left and then which led to compensation in many different areas and just kind of like a little spiral.”
Last season Beckham missed the final four games with a quadriceps injury, which he believes was a result of the ankle injuries.
“My doctor told me that something like that was going to happen and I ended up catching a nasty hematoma last year,” Beckham said. “Banged up, and I just tried to play through it. It was like the Thursday before the fourth-to-last game. I was running an out and up. I stuck on the up and my quad just tore and it was torn the entire back end of the season. There was really nothing I could do about it.”
Williams took over as interim head coach following the firing of Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley in midseason and the Browns turned the year around winning five of their final eight games but he was passed over for the full time job, which was awarded to Freddie Kitchens.
It’s more than likely Williams will dial up the intensity Monday night.
Beckham was asked about how Williams could defend him, which opened the door for the star receiver to take aim, and unload.
“The only thing I’m buying is you know probably just got to watch out for the cheap shots and the dirty hits and all the things that he likes to teach,” Beckham said. “That’s pretty much all we’ve got to watch out for.
“Other than that, I expect the same. Two-high safety. I don’t expect much man-to-man. I don’t expect none of that.”
Beckham caught a team-high seven passes for 71 yards in his debut and he’s treating his return to MetLife Stadium just like any other normal game, except he knows Williams is on the opposing sideline, again.
“If I was a coach, I would never teach what he teaches, but that’s just him and what he does,” Beckham said. “So there’s no really getting under my skin anymore. It never was the case. There’s a lot of extra stuff that went on that people don’t know about that I was more frustrated with than anything.
“I’m going to play my game. I’m going to produce when the ball comes to me. I’m going to make plays, whatever plays I can possibly make.”
Beckham isn’t the only player who has little nice to say about Williams, who has tried to put his role in the New Orleans Saints ‘Bountygate’ scandal in which he was accused of targeting opposing players and paid out cash rewards for injuries to them. Williams was suspended by the NFL for the 2012 season as a result.
Safety Damarious Randall was asked about facing off against Williams Monday night to which he replied, “Next question.”
