EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It took 11 games. Two meager wins and nine disappointing losses for the frustrations of a season to boil over for New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers. It took 11 games for the rookie to be ready to stand at his locker and spill to reporters how disgusted he felt after yet another Giants defeat, their sixth straight.
The overall message wasn’t surprising — “I’m tired of going out there and losing” — but the rookie didn’t mince words when asked how he’d describe the team’s effort during Sunday’s 30-7 drubbing at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Soft as f—,” said the No. 6 pick in the 2024 draft.
To be clear, Nabers wasn’t the only person in the Giants locker room delivering scathing remarks about the team’s poor performance Sunday.
“We played soft,” team captain Dexter Lawrence said. “And they beat the s— out of us today.”
That Nabers was among the players speaking out only demonstrates how far off the rails this season has gone. The receiver was selected out of LSU to help lift the Giants offense and lend it a new explosive dynamic. Instead, the Giants offense has become the league’s worst, and Nabers is fed up with it.
His frustration stemmed, in large part, from his lack of early involvement in the Giants’ game plan. Nabers didn’t see a target for the entire first half. In the final minutes of the second quarter, that frustration appeared to be eating at Nabers, who briefly found a seat on a Gatorade cooler while the rest of his wide receiver teammates sat on the bench speaking with receivers coach Mike Groh.
Nabers told The Athletic that the bench seats were “kind of hot” (temperature-wise), and he just didn’t want to sit there.
“Go out there, first, second quarter, I don’t get the ball,” said Nabers, who finished the game with six receptions for 64 yards on nine targets. “I mean, can’t do nothing. Start getting the ball when it’s 30-0. What you want me to do?”
When asked why he didn’t get the ball earlier in the game, Nabers said, “Talk to (coach Brian Daboll).”
Daboll explained that the offense just didn’t run many plays — they ran just 17 in the first half, excluding a kneeldown — and they tried to mix in the run before the “game got away” from them.
Unfortunately for Daboll, the game was pretty much over by halftime, as the Buccaneers took a 23-0 lead into the intermission. So, did Nabers say anything to the coaches at the break?
“I mean, they know,” Nabers said. “They come up to me and ask me what plays I want, and that was that. I don’t know.”
The frustration on Sunday’s game came on the heels of a dramatic week for the Giants. On Monday, the team benched six-year starter Daniel Jones, a move that upset a few of his teammates, as they relegated him to fourth string on the depth chart. On Thursday, Jones gave an emotional farewell address, and by Friday, Jones had asked for his release. The Giants granted that request, officially moving on from the 2019 first-round pick.
As all of that was happening, the Giants were also dealing with the fallout of turning to third-stringer Tommy DeVito rather than Drew Lock, who had been serving as the team’s primary backup all season. The Giants hoped DeVito could bring back some of the “spark” he gave the team last season when he went 3-3 as their starter.
Of course, anyone who watched Sunday’s game knows no such spark was provided. The offensive was, again, inept. The Giants were shut out for three quarters and went into halftime with just 45 yards of offense. DeVito finished 21-of-31 passing for 189 yards and no touchdowns. Lock had to come in for one play to relieve a shaken-up DeVito after he was drilled on a long incompletion.
“I mean, obviously, it ain’t the quarterback,” Nabers said when asked why the Giants keep losing. “Same outcome as when we had DJ at quarterback.
“I don’t know what it is. Everybody knows better than me.”
Malik Nabers: “I know I’m tired of losing”
Says it’s not the quarterback pic.twitter.com/CA6tH0r87x
— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) November 24, 2024
The bottom line is the Giants offense is a train wreck. New York is averaging a league-low 14.3 points per game and a meager 10.0 points per game at home — the fewest by any team since 2000, according to NFLPro.
Nabers was supposed to be one of the key pieces in helping turn around the Giants’ fortunes. The hope was that by pairing Nabers with Jones, the quarterback would finally have a true No. 1 receiver he could rely upon. The paring looked promising, as Nabers got off to a historic start, posting two 100-yard receiving games and scoring three touchdowns in his first four games. However, Nabers had to leave the team’s Week 4 loss to the Cowboys with a concussion. He missed two games and hasn’t tallied a 100-yard receiving game or a touchdown since. In fact, he hasn’t topped 71 receiving yards since.
While Nabers’ early target numbers (a season-high 18 in Week 2) were always going to be unsustainable, the lack of Nabers’ involvement combined with the Giants losing record became combustible Sunday.
It’s something the Giants might have been prepared for given the pre-draft process questions about how Nabers’ competitiveness would manifest during a poor game/season. As documented on “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants,” Daboll grilled Nabers on how he handles not being involved early in games.
“Pretty tough,” Nabers told him.
He was honest.
While Daboll appreciated that mentality and related to that sentiment, Daboll explained it’s necessary “to learn how to harness that good.”
That’s clearly still a process.
In a season of mounting losses and disappointment, perhaps that’s something the Giants can still hope to achieve. He and the team need to learn how to harness his talents and not let his frustrations get the best of him.
Perhaps that process even began Sunday evening.
When asked where the Giants go from here, Nabers said, “Take a look in the mirror.”
The Giants need to make sure they’re holding that up for him and helping him see the desired reflection.
(Photo: Chris Pedot / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
