Malik Nabers can’t explain it.
Once again on Sunday, the Giants failed to get their rookie receiver involved early on.
Nabers didn’t receive a target until the third quarter of Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a game in which he described the Giants’ performance as “smooth as shit.”
“Go there first, second quarter, don’t get the ball, start scoring goals at the end,” a frustrated Nabers said in the locker room. “I mean, there’s nothing I can do. Start getting the ball when it’s 30-0. What do you want me to do?
Nabers finished with six receptions for 64 yards on nine targets in his first game with Tommy DeVito at quarterback.
When asked why the Giants didn’t look his way in the first half, Nabers said, “I don’t know.”
“Talk to Dabs about it,” Nabers said, referring to head coach Brian Daboll. “Talk to Dabs.”
Daboll attributed Nabers’ lack of involvement to the Giants not running many games.
“Certainly there had been a few and they had, whether it was coverage designed to, I’m not saying double it or anything like that, just better coverage for the game in self,” Daboll said. “But [we] there weren’t many rooms.
It was the fifth straight game in which Nabers did not record more than one catch or receive more than two bases in the first quarter.
Two games ago, he was held to just one target in the first half of a 27-22 loss to the Washington Commanders.
His recent usage stands in stark contrast to the first four games of the season, when Nabers totaled 52 goals. Nabers caught 35 passes in those games — the second-most receptions in a player’s first four games in NFL history, trailing only the 39 recorded by the Rams’ Puka Nacua last year.
Nabers, 21, missed Weeks 5 and 6 with a concussion.
In the five games since his return, Nabers has not eclipsed 71 receiving yards, although he has scored at least eight goals in each of them.
The Giants drafted Nabers with the No. 6 overall pick out of LSU in April, identifying him as a playmaking staple on an offense that has lacked a No. 1 receiver since Odell Beckham Jr. was traded to the Cleveland Browns in March. 2019.
Nabers has 67 receptions for 671 yards and three touchdowns in nine games this year. The first eight games were played with Daniel Jones at quarterback. The Giants benched Jones last week, then agreed to release him before falling to 2-9 with Sunday’s loss.
After Sunday’s loss, Nabers said he was “tired of losing.”
“I mean, it’s obviously not the quarterback,” Nabers said of the Giants’ problems. “Same result when we had DJ as quarterback. I mean, take a look. Take a look. It’s not the quarterback.
