Was Odell Beckham Jr. provoked by anti-gay remarks?

Safe to say, none of the Bills players came onto the field with a bat, like a Panthers did before the game, in order to make Beckham lose control, which he did. There were things said to him as far as what they were going to do to him.

“People made more out of it than what needed to be made”, Rivera said. Football is a unsafe sport and with Odell, we saw intent of hurting another player but that is true for a lot of NFL players.

A Giants spokesman said the team would not be releasing a statement on the matter.

“If there’s something out there that’s factual, there’s truth, there’s hard evidence, please present it to us as well, so we can react accordingly”, he added. “We don’t tolerate that here”.

But Beckham, his teammates and Giants management allege the conflict started much earlier, after Norman and other Panthers shouted anti-gay slurs and physically threatened him with a baseball bat before the game.

According to the New York Post, former National Football League and MLB player turned analyst Deion Sanders said he questioned Beckham about the pregame incident on the sidelines with a Panthers practice team player. The suspension will put an even bigger damper on the Giants already slim playoff hopes, as Beckham is now scheduled to miss next week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night. Thrash is expected to decide quickly.

Beckham is appealing, and will know the result of his appeal in a couple of days.

Rivera spoke to practice squad player Marcus Ball, who was seen carrying the bat before the game, but the defensive back denied any of the accusations. If any Panthers are found to have been directing homophobic slurs toward Beckham, they should be punished as well.

But while that tale was widely publicized, Rivera’s point seemed true. “Again, it’s the No Fun League for a reason”.

“Because I’ll hear [about] it”, Rivera said when asked why he was taking such action.

“From a competitive standpoint, the competitor in us all, that’s one of the things you just can’t let happen”, quarterback Matt Ryan on his radio show Tuesday.

And while Rivera sees nothing wrong with the secondary’s bat tradition, he plans to end it nevertheless.

The Panthers claim the bat is a motivational symbol they bring onto the field before every game.

Rivera explained his decision to keep bats off the field is created to keep the team out of a “soap opera”.

But that stops now for the Panthers.

Benigno said: “I am sure the trash talking was going nuts. His thing is, I don’t ever want to hurt my team, I just want to fight for my team”.