EAST RUTHERFORD Rhett Ellison Color Rush Jersey , N.J. (AP) need to choose his words more carefully.The NFL’s highest-paid receiver created a stir Friday when ESPN released an interview from this week in which the 25-year-old wondered why the team isn’t throwing the ball farther downfield and playing with more energy.The possible cause of his frustration? Four games into the season, Beckham hasn’t caught a touchdown pass. Beckham said the Giants (1-3), who travel to Carolina (2-1) on Sunday, need to get on a run.Here’s how he answered the ESPN question about “the biggest heart of the issue” for the Giants.“How come we can’t throw the ball for more than 20 yards? How come we don’t attempt or try to throw the ball for more than 20 yards?” Beckham said. “Those are questions that we have to figure out, but for now I would say it’s our heart, it’s our energy. It’s what we bring when we line up before the game, all of that. It counts.”The Giants have completed only two passes of more than 30 yards or more this season, and they have only nine passes of 20 yards or greater.Beckham was not in the locker room after practice on Friday to discuss his comments. The catalyst of the Giants’ offense has been on his best behavior this season and more mature after missing most of last season with a broken ankle.While he didn’t throw anyone under the bus, his words indicated he’s upset about losing games.Quarterback Eli Manning brushed off reporters who approached him for comment. A team spokesman said the 37-year-old, two-time Super Bowl winner who has been under scrutiny had a television interview. He never returned to the locker room.Coach Pat Shurmur said he was aware of Beckham’s comments made during a sit down with ESPN reporter Josina Anderson. The coach said he hadn’t seen them. He refused to look at them when a reporter offered to let him read them.“I do know we’re making an effort to do what it takes to score points. I think, if you remember our first drive, the ball didn’t travel down the field, but our team did Olivier Vernon Color Rush Jersey ,” Shurmur said referring to the Giants opening touchdown drive against the New Orleans Saints. “That’s the most important piece and we will continue to try and throw the ball down the field and get the ball down the field and complete it to our playmakers however we need to do it.”When pressed about the comments, Shurmur said Beckham should be the one address them. The coach added execution was the problem for the offense, not energy.Beckham, who signed a five-year, $95 million contract extension in training camp, is having a good season coming off his injury. He leads the team with 31 catches for 331 yards, a 10.7-yard average. But he has not caught a touchdown.Shurmur said he talked to Beckham on Friday but wouldn’t divulge the topics.Fellow receiver Sterling Shepard initially refused to comment on what Beckham said. He later said the players have had a good energy level in practice and need to execute.He felt Beckham might be referring to energy level before the start of games. He said players all approach it differently. Some are quiet while others get amped up.“Some guys want to sit in the locker and look over plays,” Shepard said. “Some guys want to get rowdy and that’s what kind of personality he has. That’s what he likes to see.”Veteran cornerback Michael Thomas wasn’t worried Beckham’s comment would be taken the wrong way.“He’s passionate, but we can’t let our emotions get the best of us,” Thomas said. “He wants to win and do his job, and everybody has to. Everybody has to go out and execute and do their jobs. I don’t look at it as distracting or anything like that. That’s who he is. He is passionate. He wants to be great and make plays. We all do.”NOTES: Linebacker Olivier Vernon was close to getting on the field this week, but he’ll miss his fifth straight game with a high ankle sprain. Tight end Evan Engram (knee) will miss his second straight game. … Starting CB Eli Apple practiced the past two days and is listed as probable. He missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. A Date To Remember is an occasional series Big Blue View will be running through the Super Bowl, highlighting the glory of the Giants’ past and celebrating the biggest playoff wins in franchise history. The Giants RisingJan. 8 Odell Beckham Jr Color Rush Jersey , 2012NFC Wild Card gameGiants 24, Falcons 2Antrel Rolle tapped himself on the chest, right over his heart, to make his point clear. It’s all about this.It’s all about heart. “If you don’t got it in the heart, I don’t know ...” the safety and soul of the 2011 Giants told me and other reporters that afternoon in their devastated postgame locker room. “We’re 10 times better than what we showed out there on the field today. “I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I don’t know.”The Giants did not have nearly enough heart, not on that mid-December Sunday in 2011. Not enough heart or intensity or anything else needed to beat the last-place Washington Redskins at home — not even as their postseason hopes seemed to be slipping away. The 23-10 debacle was the Giants’ fifth loss in six games, dropping them to 7-7. Just two games remained, and their slim playoff chances depended on winning both despite a 6-2 start.Just three weeks later, it seemed impossible that the Giants could have fallen into such a chasm after they comfortably dispatched the Atlanta Falcons, 24-2, in an NFC Wild Card game at MetLife Stadium. It was their first postseason victory since Super Bowl XLII and their first home playoff win since the 2000 NFC title game.Eli Manning and Co. were accustomed to performing near-miracles, as they showed in 2007. But it seemed the magic had run out in Week 15 after that loss to Washington.However B.J. Goodson Color Rush Jersey , the 2011 Giants would prove just how resilient they were. It showed in how they always rose to the occasion in clutch moments, finding a way to win whenever they had to.And that started with a bond among the players and the trust and belief they had in each other. Rolle stood up in front of his teammates in a meeting late in the season and implored them to crank up the intensity, kicker Lawrence Tynes remembered. He called it “a turning point” for a team that was struggling.“Antrel had a lot to do with the 2011 year because of his leadership,” Tynes told Big Blue View. “He played so hard, and everyone respected him. He stood up and spoke to us. [Coach Tom] Coughlin was even in the room at the time.“He just kind of laid it all out there and said, ‘We’re too good for this.’ That was definitely a turning point for us when he spoke to the team and laid all his emotions out there.”Suddenly, the Giants were playing as well as anyone.They needed to.Their final two regular-season opponents? The Jets — coming off back-to-back AFC title game appearances — and the NFC East-leading Cowboys.In Week 16, Victor Cruz broke Rex Ryan’s Jets defense with a 99-yard catch-and-run touchdown from Manning right before halftime. It gave the Giants a lead they would never relinquish.And then they jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead on the Cowboys in the season finale to win the division and clinch a playoff berth.“I know it’s kind of clich茅d, but if you believe, you can achieve,” captain and defensive end Justin Tuck said after the win over the Falcons.He added: “Right now we have a high level of belief in each other, and it’s showing on the football field.”Manning felt it too, completing 23-of-32 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns. Hakeem Nicks caught six of them for 115 yards and two touchdowns. And the defense had transformed into a suffocating unit Aldrick Rosas Color Rush Jersey , yielding just 56 points in four playoff victories.Osi Umenyiora overcame injuries — he missed seven games due to right knee surgery in training camp and a high-ankle sprain in late November — to record two sacks in the regular-season finale and then 3.5 in the postseason.Tuck, who was limited by a number of injuries the entire season, registered a sack in each of the last two regular-season games and then 3.5 in the playoffs.The Giants won those final two regular-season games and then beat Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs, but there was little optimism outside the team that they would make a deep postseason run. Not with 15-1 Green Bay waiting at Lambeau. And not with 13-3 San Francisco waiting after that. And both had beaten the Giants in the regular season.But Rolle believed. And Tuck believed. And so did Jason Pierre-Paul — who earned All-Pro honors with 16.5 sacks in 2011.“We’re going to win,” the defensive end said, predicting a victory over the Giants’ divisional round opponent, the Packers, after beating Atlanta. “A hundred percent we’re going to win.”Why?“Because we’re the best,” he said.Aaron Rodgers and Alex Smith would learn that soon enough. And then Tom Brady would learn it all over again in Super Bowl XLVI.