Giants Beckham hit with one-game suspension

[December 22, 2015]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham was suspended for one game by the NFL on Monday for unruly behavior on the field, including a helmet-to-helmet hit on Josh Norman, in Sunday's loss to the Carolina Panthers.

Beckham, whose spectacular one-handed catches and runs have made him one of the league's top receivers in just his second season, will miss Sunday's game in Minnesota against the Vikings.

Beckham was penalised three-times for personal fouls against Norman, one of the National Football League's top cornerbacks who drew the assignment of covering him in Carolina's 38-35 victory that kept the Panthers unbeaten with a 14-0 record.

"At numerous times during yesterday's game against the Carolina Panthers, your actions placed a fellow player at unnecessary risk ... and clearly did not represent the high standards of sportsmanship expected," NFL vice president of football operations Merton Hanks wrote in a letter to Beckham.

Norman, an aggressive defender who tangled with Beckham throughout the game, was tagged with two personal fouls as well.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Sunday that he gave "strong consideration" to benching Beckham at one point for his lack of composure on the field, but the coach spoke highly of his hugely talented player on Monday.

"There are qualities that Odell Beckham ... brings to this football team the likes of which I've never seen," Coughlin told reporters.

"He has great energy, great enthusiasm, he gives great effort. He does it literally every day he walks out on the field.

"He is an emotional young man. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and I will not defend his actions yesterday because they were wrong ... but I will defend the young man and the quality of the person."

Tension between Beckham and Norman brewed long before kickoff, with both players trading trash talk ahead of their eagerly awaited duel on the gridiron and confronting one another during warmups before the game.

Beckham's frustration seemed to grow after he dropped a sure touchdown pass from quarterback Eli Manning after beating Norman early in the first quarter.

After being held without a single catch in the first half, Beckham got untracked to help New York battle back from a 35-7 deficit and caught a 14-yard touchdown pass that tied it 35-35 with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York. Editing by Steve Keating.)

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