It was obvious during the first half of Super Bowl LVI that the Rams intended to feel the ball to receiver Odell Beckham Jr. repeatedly. But for his non-contact knee injury in the second quarter, Beckham could have been the game’s MVP.
Beckham knows it. And he’s willing to say it.
“People have no idea what I was actually gonna do that day,” Beckham told Peter King for his latest Football Morning in America column. “It was gonna be the day where I catch 15 balls, maybe 250 yards. The game plan was for me. We would’ve beat [the Bengals] 42-17.”
Beckham had two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown when he made his exit with 3:54 to play in the first half. Another 13 catches for another 198 yards might have been a stretch.
Still, the Rams were focusing on getting the ball to Beckham, given the extent to which the Bengals hoped to erase primary receiver Cooper Kupp. Given that the Rams knew Beckham had no ACL in his knee, the strategy carried very real risk.
Even without Beckham, however, the Rams won the game. And Beckham ended up out of football in 2022. He’ll make his return to action with the Ravens this season.
