Malik Nabers can’t clarify it.
As soon as once more Sunday, the Giants did not get their rookie large receiver concerned early.
Nabers didn’t obtain a goal till the third quarter of Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a sport by which he described the Giants’ efficiency as being “soft as f–k.”
“Go out there first, second quarter, don’t get the ball, start getting targets at the end,” a pissed off Nabers stated within the locker room. “I mean, I can’t do nothing. Start getting the ball when it’s 30-0. What do you want me to do?”
Nabers completed with six receptions for 64 yards on 9 targets in his first sport taking part in with Tommy DeVito at quarterback.
Requested why the Giants didn’t look his means within the first half, Nabers replied, “I don’t know.”
“Talk to Dabs about that,” Nabers stated, referring to go coach Brian Daboll. “Talk to Dabs.”
Daboll attributed Nabers’ lack of involvement to the Giants not working many performs.
“Certainly, had some there dialed up and they had, whether it’s a coverage designed to, I’m not saying double him or anything like that, just a better coverage for the play in and of itself,” Daboll stated. “But [we] didn’t have very many plays.”
It was the fifth sport in a row by which Nabers didn’t file multiple catch or obtain greater than two targets within the first quarter.
Two video games in the past, he was held with out a catch on one goal within the first half of a 27-22 loss to the Washington Commanders.
His latest utilization is in excessive distinction to the primary 4 video games of the season, when Nabers totaled 52 targets. Nabers caught 35 passes in these video games — the second most receptions by means of a participant’s first 4 video games in NFL historical past, behind solely the 39 recorded by the Rams’ Puka Nacua final yr.
Nabers, 21, missed Weeks 5 and 6 with a concussion.
Within the 5 video games since he returned, Nabers has not eclipsed 71 receiving yards, although he’s ended up with not less than eight targets in all them.
The Giants drafted Nabers with the No. 6 total select of LSU in April, figuring out him as a play-making constructing block on an offense that had lacked a No. 1 large receiver since buying and selling Odell Beckham Jr. to the Cleveland Browns in March 2019.
Nabers has 67 receptions for 671 yards and three touchdowns in 9 video games this yr. The primary eight video games got here with Daniel Jones at quarterback. The Giants benched Jones final week, then agreed to launch him earlier than they fell to 2-9 with Sunday’s loss.
After Sunday’s defeat, Nabers stated he’s “tired of losing.”
“I mean, obviously it ain’t the quarterback,” Nabers stated of the Giants’ points. “Same outcome when we had DJ at quarterback. I mean, take a look. Take a look. It ain’t the quarterback.”