Giants Malik Nabers on Why He “Doesn’t Care” About Drops

Malik Nabers takes too much pride in his game to let dropped passes undermine his confidence.

Nov 28, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) catches a pass as Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eric Kendricks (50) defends during the second half at AT&T Stadium. / Chris Jones-Imagn Images

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers is quickly learning that his words can sometimes be misconstrued.

Such was the case with his comments made after the Giants' loss to the Dallas Cowboys, when Nabers told reporters that he “didn’t care” about drops, of which he had two in the Giants’ 27-20 loss to Dallas and a big fourth-down drop against Washington earlier in the season.

"I don’t care about drops," Nabers said. "I mean, it's just part of football. I don't care if I drop the ball six times. Keep throwing me the ball."

On Wednesday, Nabers clarified his comments, explaining that he simply meant he had the “next play” mentality and wouldn’t let drops undermine his confidence.   

“Like I said, it's football. It's going to come with that. Everyone's going to drop the ball,” Nabers said. “I'm not saying everybody, because some people thrive on not dropping the ball. But it's the sport, it's a thing. 

“I just can't think about going into the game dropping the ball after I drop the ball, or keep it in my head like, ‘I just dropped the ball.’ I’ve just got to move forward. So that's what I was saying,” he added. 

Nabers also insisted that his words weren’t meant to sound selfish. 

“It's not like I'm saying, ‘Even though I'm dropping the ball, keep throwing me the ball.’ Not selfish–what I'm saying is it's not something that I'm thinking about in my head after I drop the ball. It's the next play mentality. 

“I could drop five footballs. And then, after that, they come at me for the game-winner. And then I catch the game-winner. Then everybody's happy and stuff like that. But like I said, keep trusting me. Some plays are not going to be made. I'm aware of that. But some plays are going to be made.”

Nabers wants to make as many plays as he can. He admits that losing has been difficult but notes that he’s working through handling his emotions on his own and that he’s learning a valuable lesson about how to navigate difficult times.  

“Just focus on more things you can control–my emotions, how I carry myself, character. Even though these things have been going down, how you can look at yourself in the mirror and just try to find a way for you to help the team out, help the team figure out how to win,” he said. 

“Just like I said, focus on your character. You can't really do anything about it now. The record is the record. But you can still focus on moving forward.”

And moving forward, he still believes that he can be a part of the solution that helps to turn the franchise’s misfortunes around.

“Yeah, I'm very driven,” he said. “Like I said, things haven't been going the right way. But if you can turn around and make something spectacular out of nothing, I like doing that.

"It shows how much we rally around each other; how much we have leaders in this team and this offense. I'm trying to work on turning that narrative around.” 

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