Mailk Nabers gave expansive answers about the Giants‘ shortcomings after Sunday’s 21-6 dud defeat at Washington.
But he would not confirm whether he was playing at 100% health with a back ailment that bothered him late in training camp and kept him out of Friday’s practice.
“I won’t be answering that question,” Nabers said.
The wide receiver’s reluctance to address his back tightness set an ominous tone entering next Sunday’s Week 2 must-win at the Dallas Cowboys.
Nabers made only five catches for 71 yards on 12 targets against the Commanders. Washington corners Marshon Lattimore and Trey Amos both broke up 50-50 Russell Wilson balls downfield to Nabers.
And on one Lattimore pass breakup, Nabers’ release off the line was a marked difference from his typical explosive self.
“I did what I could,” Nabers said. “We had some plays drawn up. The defense did a good job of playing underneath, playing over top, switching the coverage up. So we tried to get me in the game as much as possible, but the defensive scheme done well.”
Wilson and the Giants’ offense turned in such a poor performance, however, that Nabers spent time late in the fourth quarter with a towel over his head on the bench.
It was the lasting image of the Giants’ frustrating Week 1 performance, and it could end up symbolizing their season.
Nabers said he was “very surprised” that the Giants’ encouraging preseason on offense didn’t translate into the team’s first regular season game. He said they need to put more “pressure on the ball” to stress the defense.
Otherwise there will be more sideline dustups like the fiery back and forth between Brian Daboll and Nabers from Sunday’s first quarter. Nabers even appeared to decline a high five on the field that Daboll offered as a makeup afterward.
“I said I was gonna speak up when it was time for me to speak up,” Nabers said. “I was just trying to get guys going, trying to get everything going. I felt like we was lacking out there. The energy wasn’t right. So I took it upon myself to try to boost people up.
“It’s two competitive people going at it,” Nabers added. “He wants to win. I want to win. It was two people going at it. We’re just trying to get the same outcome.”
Nabers said he is “not really sure” why the Giants couldn’t score touchdowns in the red zone, though. They were down near the goal line twice and came away with three total points in those trips.
“We just gotta be more on the same page, get aligned right,” he said. “There’s a lot of being aligned right, making sure we’re calling the play calls to scheme everybody open. But coach calls what he called, we gotta do our best to get open.”
The Giants’ top receiver echoed Daboll’s message that Wilson was not to blame for the poor performance.
“Russ did a great job distributing the ball when he can,” he said. “They were doing a lot of good pressures up the middle. Things outside of that, we’ve got to be as a whole offense of trying to get open for Russ. We had a lot of plays that needed to be made, myself included.
“Russ was putting the ball in some great spots, we gotta be open when he needs to be open,” he added. “As a whole offense we’ve got to be better. One person changed ain’t gonna do better. We all gotta be better for ourselves.”
Something needs to change with the Giants’ offense, however. This was more of the same from Daboll’s offense these past four years.
Nabers won’t stay quiet if it continues. But if he’s not 100% healthy, they have almost no chance of turning it around in the first place.
And given his extended offseason absence due to a toe injury — and now the nagging back issues on top of it — the signs are ominous that Nabers might have to continue playing through discomfort in Dallas.
