The likely victor? Fans of acrobatic receivers.
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So when the two former LSU teammates meet for the first time in the pros on Monday night, they plan to do something special before the game.
“This game has been marked on the schedule for a long time”, Beckham said Wednesday. Both the Giants and Dolphins are 5-7, but only the Giants – thanks to the moribund NFC East – are in the playoff hunt.
Landry said there’s a highlight tape – he has misplaced his copy – that shows all the sensational and astonishing two-handed and one-handed grabs he and Beckham made in college.
“It’s your brother, it’s a bond that goes way beyond the game”, Landry said.
“I just want to see him be the greatest receiver of all time, and I think it’s the same for me”, Beckham said of Landry. Bring up Landry with Beckham, and he opens up in a way you seldom see.
“I can’t say that out loud”, Beckham said, “but I always want to see him do well”.
Beckham was drafted 12th overall by the Giants in 2014, and Landry was taken in the second round the same year by Miami.
Beckham and Landry, who are tied for sixth in the NFL in receptions this season with Denver’s Demaryius Thomas, quite simply have become two of the best wide receivers in the NFL in a very short time.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie doesn’t think he’ll be overwhelmed by the athleticism of Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry this week because he faces that kind of player just about every day in practice.
Both are their team’s most important outside threat. Landry’s frustration boiled over Sunday as Miami’s offense sputtered during an ugly win over Baltimore, and at one point he threw a sideline fit – and his helmet. “We had like four or five drives where we barely moved the ball. And we got the W, so I think it worked”.
Landry and Beckham talk, text or do FaceTime with one another every day.
Landry has the edge in versatility. They’re outstanding athletes and when I look at Landry, I know a lot of things, one of which is the punt return ability, he can be utilized in the gadgets, he runs the jet sweep, etc., etc. He’s got the exact same number of catches Odell does, so he’s a highly-touted player that his team relies on and he comes through. He has even completed a pass.
“I mean he had two one-hand catches back-to-back years against Arkansas, two ridiculous catches, ” Beckham said. It is called the “Freak Catch Tape”, put together by LSU running backs coach Frank Wilson. “It’s not just typical receiver competitiveness, where you’re really comparing the numbers”. “Of course I put myself up there, but I think at the same time Odell, Antonio Brown, guys like that have definitely made names for themselves in this league that I would think of who continually excel at a high level. I’ve definitely been so happy just to be able to see all the hard work and things that we were doing pay off”. At the time, Landry was the better known of the two, in part because Beckham was at the smaller Isidore Newman School while Landry was starring at Lutcher.
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“The most fantastic catch that I’ve ever seen him make was – I wouldn’t say it was behind his head, but – behind his head, basically”, said Landry, struggling for words. “It’s insane to even really talk about it. It’s hard to even explain”.
