Malik Nabers went from unstoppable to invisible on Sunday night.
After racking up 14 catches for 238 yards and a pair of touchdowns over the first two weeks of the season playing with Russell Wilson, Nabers was barely noticeable for much of Sunday’s 22-9 loss to the Chiefs at MetLife Stadium.
He didn’t pick up his first catch until early in the fourth quarter and then left the game with an apparent injury when he got drilled on an incomplete deep pass in the end zone on the next play.
Nabers returned on the following drive, but after never finishing a game with fewer than four receptions, he finished Sunday with two catches for 13 yards.
“It’s just how the game went,’’ Nabers said. “Can’t do [anything] about it.”
The production was the lowest of Nabers’ career, and head coach Brian Daboll said, “We’ve got to do a better job with that.”
Both Nabers and Daboll noted Kansas City’s coverage as a reason.
No matter the reason, it was a stunning display from an offense that featured plenty of explosive plays a week ago against what’s proving to be a porous Dallas defense.
But as Wan’Dale Robinson said, it was “kind of the way they were playing us, but that’s no excuse.”
Robinson was also limited to one catch for 26 yards.
And the lack of offense left the Giants 0-3 in what’s setting up to be another miserable season, just like Nabers’ rookie year.
“I’m bummed,’’ Nabers said. “Anybody would feel beat up after going 0-3.”
Asked how frustrated he was to be going through this again, Nabers said, “How frustrated do you think? We’re 0-3. We can’t win a game. It’s frustrating. We can’t win.’’
It was so bad early on that not only did Nabers go into halftime without a catch, he was also targeted by Wilson just three times in the first two quarters.
And on one of them, Wilson threw a horrendous interception in the end zone, with the Giants in excellent position to take their first lead in the game.
Nabers’ lack of production was a long way from what the second-year wide receiver out of LSU put up in the first 19 games of his NFL career.
Last season, even while playing with a ragtag group of quarterbacks, Nabers managed to finish with 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns.
Now paired with Wilson, Nabers seemed poised for an even better season.
And after an underwhelming start against Washington in the season-opener, Nabers exploded against the Cowboys last week in a game that included a 48-yard touchdown catch that gave the Giants a lead — albeit briefly — with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Not only did he somehow get behind the Dallas defense, but Nabers hauled in the pass while cornerback Kaiir Elam had his hand all over Nabers’ facemask.
While no penalty was called, it clearly should have been an infraction — but Nabers made it irrelevant.
It’s the kind of play the Giants’ offense hasn’t seen much of throughout their history, other than when Odell Beckham Jr. was a young player and made a similar impact — also out of LSU.
But Sunday proved to be an unfortunate turn for Nabers and the offense.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
