Super Bowl 2022: Oh, baby! Odell Beckham Jr. may have super decision to make

LOS ANGELES — Odell Beckham Jr. has spent much of this week glancing at his phone. While he prepares for the biggest game of his life, he is waiting for the biggest call of his life.

That will be the one that tells him his girlfriend, Lauren Wood, is about to deliver the couple’s first child.

"I’m on standby," he said Friday, still in the holding pattern that he’s been circling in going back as far as the NFC Championship Game.

One of these days the phone will buzz the good news. And if it happens to be on Sunday, well, Beckham said there will be another conversation to be had.

"I’d have to make a call back to him and ask him to wait 36 hours," the Rams receiver said.

Of course, that’s not how it works. Beckham had been hoping that the new arrival would arrive by now. Earlier in the week, he wasn’t even contemplating the enormity of having a child and playing in a Super Bowl on the same day . . . let alone the logistical conflicts that would ensue.

He has not said — at least not with a serious answer — what his plans are if there is a confluence of events.

"I don’t need you to put the energy in the air about the Saturday night or the Sunday thing," he said. "I think God has a different plan. I don’t need it during the Super Bowl. I want to see my child being born, so I’m on watch."

Among the many benefits of playing a Super Bowl at home is Beckham’s ability to dash to a hospital for the birth and then return without having to fly or create convoluted contingencies.

With his family in Los Angeles, he has the luxury of not having to travel. He theoretically could be at the hospital on Sunday morning and sprint over to SoFi Stadium in time for kickoff.

In 2015, the Seahawks’ Richard Sherman faced the possibility of deciding between playing in a Super Bowl and being there for the birth of his child. He never had to make that call — the baby was born the Thursday after Seattle lost to the Patriots in Arizona — but he would have had to fly home for the event had he chosen to be there for a Sunday birth.

Beckham has been to plenty of Super Bowls in his life. Normally he’s part of the background, a position that certainly does not suit his star power. He spoke about the thrill of having his friends in town to be part of the festivities around the big game while he is preparing to play in the big game.

The former Giant and Brown, who left each of those teams on unpleasant terms — "I didn’t leave, I got booted," he said earlier this week of his departure from New York — managed to give some fuel to critics who have always considered him a me-first player who craves attention. Asked to whom he is dedicating his Super Bowl performance, he said his family, his new team, "the man above" and . . . himself.

"I think a lot of times in life, we do so much for other people and we don’t take the time to recognize and appreciate yourself," he said. "I appreciate the resiliency I have had to get to this point. Some of this game is for yourself."

Beckham’s career was nearly derailed by injuries, a shattered ankle with the Giants and a torn ACL with the Browns. Now he is on the verge of a Super Bowl.

Assuming, of course, that the pending little one doesn’t have other ideas.

When it comes down to it, though, football almost certainly will top fatherhood for Beckham if he is forced to make that call.

"I’m obviously very happy to be in the big game," he said. "Coach always says, ‘Where would you rather be?’ "

Beckham might have to answer that question in a way few others have had to.

Notes & quotes: Tyler Higbee’s long-shot chances to play in Super Bowl LVI petered out on Friday when the Rams placed him on injured reserve. The starting tight end, who injured his knee early in the NFC Championship Game two weeks ago, was second on the team in receptions (61) for 560 yards and five touchdowns in the regular season. He caught two passes for 18 yards against the 49ers before suffering the injury. His backup, Kendall Blanton, stepped in and caught five passes for 57 yards in the NFC title game and will be pressed into service again on Sunday . . . The Rams also placed backup offensive lineman Joe Noteboom on IR and activated RB Darrell Henderson and DL Sebastian Joseph-Day from IR.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.