LANDOVER, Md. — Malik Nabers did everything he could to help the Giants avoid a season death knell except catch the last ball thrown to him.
The dynamic rookie was as advertised — easy speed, flashy catches, a touchdown and, on the flip side, a drop — Sunday in his second career game, a 21-18 loss to the Commanders.
The drop just came at the worst possible time — on a fourth-and-4 with 2:09 remaining that the Giants needed to convert because they were too shorthanded to kick a tiebreaking field goal.
The turnover on downs led to the Commanders’ walk-off field goal.
“I’m disappointed,” Nabers said. “No matter how good of a game you can play, that last play came down to me. I’m hurt that I let those veterans down. I know what kind of confidence…. I don’t want to ever let my team down. That’s the main model that’s in my head — don’t let my team down. And I let my team down.”
Nabers totaled 10 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown that gave the Giants a 12-9 lead late in the first half.
But he will be haunted by the ball that he didn’t catch — on his mind-boggling 18th target.
Nabers slammed his fist in frustration on the bench as head coach Brian Daboll tried to offer a pick-me-up.
“I’m sure out of 1,000 times they’re going to continue to call that play and go at me on fourth down again,” Nabers said. “Obviously I want to make that play. … This whole week I’m going to think about it — until I play the next game and then it goes in the past.”
Teammates tried to absolve Nabers of the blame when there was plenty to go around for the coaches, defense and special teams especially.
“I think it’s pretty obvious we wouldn’t be in the position we were in without the game he played,” quarterback Daniel Jones said. “Big time for us throughout the game, made tons of big plays and was a matchup issue for them all day. He knows he played a good game, and we have to pick him up. He’s a competitor and holds himself to a high standard, so I know it bothers him.”
The Commanders made an interesting choice to mostly play man-to-man coverage against Nabers.
When he cut off routes on a dime and made the catch, he turned and burned tacklers who got too close in pursuit.
Probably the person least surprised by Nabers’ dominance was Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy last season throwing darts to Nabers.
Both were top-six draft picks in April.
“I’ll just say I was happy for him as a brother,” Daniels said. “He did his thing, which I kind of expected.”
Daniels and Nabers swapped jerseys after the game.
But only one LSU product emerged with the win.
Not Nabers.
“The last one, he’s competitive as can be,” Daboll said. “I appreciate how much he cares.”