Giants HC Brian Daboll Responds to Malik Nabers's Postgame Frustration

A visibly frustrated Malik Nabers openly questioned why he didn't get the ball more after the Giants lost to Tampa Bay 30-7 on Sunday.

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and wide receiver Malik Nabers. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers, sick of the team losing week after week, didn’t hold back after Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which he didn’t see the ball once during the team’s 18 plays on offense in the first half.

“Talk to Dabs about that,” Nabers said in response to a question about why he didn’t get at least one of quarterback Tommy DeVito’s five passing targets in the first half. “They come up to me and ask me what plays I want and that was that. I don’t know.”

“Obviously, it ain’t the quarterback,” Nabers added. “Same outcome when we had DJ at quarterback. Take a look: It ain’t the quarterback.”

When asked about Nabers's lack of targets after the game, Daboll pointed to the low number of plays on offense and the team's desire to incorporate the running game. 

The head coach, who famously revealed on Hard Knocks how much he loves NAbers’s competitive spirit, said he had conversations with Nabers last night and again this morning, though, as usual, he didn’t reveal what the two discussed. 

“He's a very competitive individual. Again, you want to get the ball in his hands, and I got to do a better job of getting the ball in his hands early,” Daboll said. 

“He's a smart, young guy that is very competitive. When you lose like that, it's a frustrating thing. But we've had good communication, as we always have.”

When asked if he saw Nabers’s outspokenness after the game as a problem, Daboll said, “I'll keep our conversations private, myself and Leek’s, and look forward to getting ready on Dallas.” 

Nabers finished with six catches for 64 yards on nine targets, but those came during garbage time and didn’t make much of a difference. He’s now gone six games without a touchdown catch, including five since returning from a concussion earlier in the season. And his production has dropped notably.

In the four games before his concussion, Nabers caught 35 of 52 targets for 386 yards and three touchdowns. Since returning from his concussion, he’s caught 32 of 51 pass targets for 285 yards and no touchdowns. 

Nabers is currently second among rookie receivers in total receiving yards with 671 in nine games played, just behind league leader Brian Thomas, Jr of the Jaguars, who has 689 in 11 games. 

Nabers leads all rookie receivers with 100 targets, but his catch percentage of 67.0% is third among rookie receivers who have been targeted at least 56 times, ranking behind Ladd McConkey of the Chargers (69.4%) and Thomas (67.7%).

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