He is the precocious apple of the Big Apple’s football eye, No. 1 for a reason.
Malik Nabers had already done wonders for Daniel Jones, and kept the sky from falling on the Giants 2024 season.
Malik Nabers had made play-calling fun again for Brian Daboll.
Malik Nabers had given the restless fan base hope.
Nabers had made the Giants watchable again.
He once again tried to will the Giants past the Big, Bad Cowboys and damn near almost did.
He would finish with 12 catches for 115 yards … and his first NFL concussion.
He was standing at his locker chatting with Giants senior VP of medical services Robbie Barnes and Jalin Hyatt following Cowboys 20, Giants 15.
“Malik’s tough … he is a dawg,” Jon Runyan Jr. said. “He gives all-out every single play, making tough catches, taking some big hits, popping right back to be. Love to see that as a rookie. I think he’s one of the leaders on this team being so young. Puts everything out there, plays really hard, we love to see that. That kinda fires us up when he’s out there making plays with a lot of passion.”
Nabers suffered his first NFL concussion on a fourth-and-6 sideline throw from Jones at the NYG 45 with 3:30 remaining with Trevon Diggs on his back that was ruled incomplete. He appeared to have gotten both feet in bounds and the Giants believed it was a catch.
“It looked like he did from my view on it,” Jones said. “He played a heck of a game again and he showed up for us big-time. Keep trusting him.”
Nabers, chin in hand, posted on Instagram afterward: “All good [prayer hands emoji] Thanks for the prayers.”
But you can’t be the hero when your team cannot run the ball and you cannot threaten the entire field and your quarterback cannot get your team in the end zone.
Jones had lost 12 of 13 in prime time and the Cowboys had used him as a piñata in the 40-0 2023 home-opener humiliation.
He had been jeered unmercifully during and after the 2024 home opener.
He had gotten off the mat.
There had been five FGs from Greg Joseph but no TDs from Jones.
This was his chance to be Danny Dimetime. Danny Primetime.
There had been 11 catches from Wan’Dale Robinson for 71 yards but no TDs from Jones.
So Nabers was not on the field when Jones, from his 49 with 28 seconds left following a rare FG miss by Brandon Aubrey, had a desperation bomb for Hyatt intercepted at the Dallas 4.
Daboll had his quarterback’s back. “I thought the quarterback threw the ball where he needed to throw it to the guys he needed to throw to,” Daboll said.
Jones (29 of 40, 281 yards) had played error-free until the bitter end. He made good decisions. He made lots of little plays, to Robinson, to Nabers.
But no big plays when it truly mattered.
No touchdowns.
There were the familiar self-inflicted wounds and dropped passes and the bottom line is that Jones must be able to overcome the adversity that often swirls around him.
I asked Jones how frustrating it was for him not getting his team into the end zone.
“Very frustrating,” he said. “Very frustrating. We’re expected to score touchdowns and put points on the board … we moved the ball well, and executed a lot of stuff well, we didn’t execute the red zone stuff, we didn’t punch it in so that’s frustrating.”
Nabers will need more help around him before the Giants can begin to close the gap on the Cowboys and Eagles.
Jones, gifted an early free play on third-and-14 in the first half, had an underthrow for Darius Slayton intercepted.
A long bomb for Nabers was a veritable Hail Mary into double coverage that was nearly intercepted. “Gotta hit ’em and give a guy a chance to make a play,” Jones said.
The Cowboys kept Nabers from torching them deep but Dak Prescott managed to roast Deonte Banks on a 55-yard catch-and-run TD to CeeDee Lamb.
Nabers was catching passes at LSU from Jayden Daniels when the Cowboys ran roughshod over the Giants in a 40-0 humiliation that set a depressing and demoralizing tone for last season.
He was wowing scouts when Giants fans drenched in despair were walking out of WetLife Stadium. When too many Cowboys fans were singing in the rain.
“We didn’t do enough to win,” Jones said.
No medals for trying. No medals for no touchdowns.