Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. calls Philadelphia ‘ruthless place’ to play

When you play a professional sport with the passion, outspokenness and vigor that Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. does, you can’t help but become a divisivefigure.

With New York preparing to travel to Philadelphia and face the Eagles on a short week, ODB knows that even though the 5-9 Eagles have been ousted from playoff contention, the Linc won’t be a fun place to play Thursday night.

“I’ve been called every name in book in Philly, but you have to embrace it,” Beckham told members of the Philly media Tuesday. “They don’t want to see you win.

“It is a pretty ruthless place down there.”

The Giants have much more to play for than the Birds, with a 10-4 record and path that leads direct to the playoffs. They’ll likely need to win at least one of their final two games to clinch a spot — or win both and watch the 12-2 Cowboys lose twice to win the NFC East.

Facing the same opponent and winning twice is a difficult task, especially when it’s a division rival. But the Giants have thwarted Dallas twice and hope to do the same Thursday in prime time.

The Eagles are bracing for a battle with a familiar foe.

“Scheming is a little bit easier for this game because it’s an opponent that we’ve already played this year —with a couple of change,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schartz said.”But Eli [Manning] is Eli. Their scheme stays the same, which makes it from a schematic-preparation standpoint, a little bit easier.”