The impact of Odell Beckham’s Miami boat ride six days before the Giants lost to the Packers in an NFC wildcard game may never be fully known. There are those who believe his hands had lingering sea sickness and were unable to reel in football passes like they were South Florida marlin. Others believe it was Aaron Rodgers, cold weather and New York’s horrific pass defense that did the Giants in. Perhaps the truth, like proper weight distribution of an ocean-going vessel, is somewhere in the middle.

What we do know is that Beckham’s trip is being scapeboated for the Giants’ 25-point defeat by media members and fans whose thinking is even lazier than a shirtless day of sunbathing on the high seas. One thing happened, then another thing happened, and so the first thing must have caused the second thing. The logic is both air and watertight. But the optics of Beckham and friends sunning in Miami turned bad and it’s unlikely Beckham or any other NFL players will be taking Miami boat trips on off days again soon.

A problem remains, however: NFL players still do have days off. As much as some media members, fans and even coaches might hate it, the athletes we watch each Sunday while prone on our couches for hours at a time are allowed a 24-hour period during which they are given the opportunity to do something other than football. Sad! But true. So in the powerful wake of Beckham’s boat, they must now choose their free-time to please everyone but themselves. Here are a few activities they can consider that might enrage the fewest people.

Regional ferry rides

Did you know that Odell Beckham isn’t the only big NFL star who spent his free time before the playoffs on a boat? None other than Bill Belichick, the man often referred to as the greatest leader in football history, took a cruise on a vessel, as well.

Hey @OnlyInBOS, look who I found on the Nantucket ferry on their bye week...#RelationshipGoals pic.twitter.com/mZkADW07MK — Adam Markopoulos (@AdamMarko) January 9, 2017

There are a lot of red flags here. First of all, Belichick is sleeping while the sun is out instead of game-planning for the Houston Texans. Perhaps he is not taking them seriously enough and the Patriots are primed for a huge letdown defeat. But the more serious issue is that Belichick’s laptop is sitting wide open. What if he had top secret plays on there that nearby passengers – passengers who could be fans of the Texans, Steelers or Chiefs – could memorize and pass on to their favorite teams? It’s stunningly irresponsible.

Yet despite this photo being shared all over the internet, Belichick is not getting any of the criticism that Beckham got. Why? The only explanation is that the Patriots coach is not on a Miami yacht, but a regional ferry. He’s supporting the local economy, proving he cares about New England. And if he cares about New England, he must care about the Patriots, too. Whereas Beckham flew three hours to Miami and boarded a boat in another market. Big difference! If the Giants receiver really cared about New York, he could have chartered one of those Hudson River tour boats and then sat shirtless on that, preparing his body for the Green Bay cold. Wasted opportunity.

Row boats

Boats themselves are not the problem. Beckham simply chose the wrong kind and sent the wrong message. Ferries say you’re going somewhere with a group of people. Yachts say you’ve already made it. Row boats? They’re the grittiest boat of all. You don’t get anywhere on a row boat if you don’t make it move with your own sweat and hard work. Bring a few team-mates on your row boat and you’ve got a team-building exercise, everyone toiling away, moving towards the same goal. If that’s not a metaphor for football, then you’ve been listening to the wrong color commentators. Imagine the camaraderie that Beckham and his Giants team-mates could have built while rowing from New York to Miami and back last Monday. He undoubtedly would have developed the strength to hold onto footballs.

Social media curation

Odell Beckham’s biggest sin wasn’t hanging out shirtless on a yacht in Miami. It wasn’t partying with noted sports team curse Justin Bieber. It wasn’t even wearing Timberlands while shirtless on a yacht in Miami, believe it or not. It was letting a picture of his day off hit social media. In this era of Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and the #brands of Russell Wilson and JJ Watt, Beckham should know that a person’s image has nothing to do with who they really are or how they fill their days; it’s all about what they put online for the world to see. Beckham should have done exactly three things on his off day: 1) tweet something like “Up early and grinding to get ready for the big game” first thing in the morning, along with a cliche-heavy hashtagged slogan; 2) relax the entire rest of the day by doing absolutely whatever he wanted, on or off watercraft; 3) make sure no one took pictures of him doing absolutely whatever he wanted. If those three things happened, there would have been no story of the boat that made Beckham drop passes. The Giants still would have lost and he still would have a bad game, but it would have been because the Packers were the better team. That’s it. Live and learn. Whoa. “Live and learn” would be good hashtag to use after a loss.

Hiding

Any athlete who has ever done stuff knows that the great risk of doing stuff is that people will criticize you for the stuff that you did. Relax on your off day, and you’re relaxing the wrong way. Work on your off day, and you should have relaxed and saved your energy for when it matters. Wear flashy clothes and you only care about getting attention. Wear casual clothes and you’re not professional. Don’t speak out about social issues and you’re not making an impact in your community. Speak out about social issues and be told that you should stick to sports. The only sure way for athletes to avoid having complete strangers tell them that they’re doing it wrong is to do nothing at all. Just hide in their house with the lights out and the blinds drawn. But it must be the right kind of house, not one of these huge, expensive ones that show an athlete cares more about wealth than winning. And whatever you do, athletes, don’t live on a yacht in Miami.