On Sunday, Odell Beckham Jr. has a chance to break Michael Irvin's NFL record of nine consecutive 90-yard games by a wide receiver.
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He will attempt to do so against the Hall of Famer's former team, the Dallas Cowboys, in a season-opening matchup at AT&T Stadium. The New York Giants' reigning AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year tied Irvin's mark in Week 17 of the 2014 season, capping a campaign that included 91 receptions for 1,305 yards, and 12 touchdowns in 12 games.
But that wasn't the first or last time Irvin took notice of Beckham.
As you may have seen a few times before, Beckham made a catch that changed his life the last time he played the Cowboys in primetime. Like everyone, Irvin ogled.
From there, he would go on to draft Beckham to his Pro Bowl team as an alumni captain before making an appearance at Giants training camp this summer to do a feature on him for NFL Network.
So the current analyst knows a little bit about what makes the LSU product tick and the challenges that face any receiver looking to follow up a great season.
"I think the toughest challenge he has -- and we had a chance to kind of talk about a little bit of this -- is really outliving that catch," Irvin said on a conference call previewing the 2015 season.
"Now what do you do and how not only the expectations of living up to that certain play, but also dealing with how people are going to come after him now because of all the attention that he gets from making certain plays like that and you're living in New York City.
"As I said to him, this isn't Baton Rouge anymore. This is New York. This is everything to them. How do you continue to feed that monster that you're building up playing the way you're playing. And the ceiling, the sky is the limit for these young men."
Part of a talented group of receivers who came into the NFL last season, Beckham's encore begins Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
"Well, Odell is very gifted, a gifted young man," Irvin continued. "I mean really gifted. This kid is freakishly gifted. He's freakishly tall, fast guy. This dude does things with his right hand, his left hand. It's really incredible."
