There’s no rule that says you have to wait until Halloween to be frightened during the fall.
Just imagine if the Giants have to play a game without Malik Nabers, who reported to the facility Friday in good spirits, according to head coach Brian Daboll, but will need to clear the five-stage NFL-mandated concussion protocol before a cross-country flight to Seattle next week.
Despite Nabers dominating quicker than any rookie receiver in NFL history, three straight good games from quarterback Daniel Jones in Daboll’s estimation, an offensive line that experts agree is upgraded and a change in play-caller from coordinator Mike Kafka to Daboll, the Giants are averaging fewer points per game (15) than last season (15.6) after Thursday night’s 20-15 loss to the Cowboys.
As a reminder, last year the injury-ravaged Giants started three quarterbacks and “weren’t blocking anybody,” in owner John Mara’s words.
“To score only score that many points [15] and only punt once, we’ve got to be able to generate and get the ball into the end zone,” Daboll said. “There’s been some progress. We’ve got to finish those drives.”
What would an offensive game plan against the undefeated Seahawks even look like for the Giants without the rookie receiver responsible for 31.5 percent of their yards, 38.2 percent of their passing targets, 43.1 percent of their first downs and 50 percent of their touchdowns?
Based on four games of evidence, a lot of short passes to Wan’Dale Robinson with the hope that he can make tacklers miss in space.
Robinson leads the NFL in catches under 10 yards.
There was a frustration in offensive meeting rooms late last season, team sources said, that the rest of the league made scoring touchdowns look much easier than the scratch-and-claw Giants.
Nabers’ arrival was supposed to open things up, but the Saquon Barkley- and Darren Waller-less Giants still are operating with minimal margin for error.
“It’s definitely not the same as last year or anything like that,” Robinson said. “I definitely feel like we move the ball much better than we did last year.”
Jones is 2 of 13 for 67 yards with a Hail Mary interception and a 16.5 quarterback rating on passes that travel more than 20 yards in the air, according to NextGenStats.
If Jones doesn’t misfire on the pass, the receivers drop the ball, as happened five times against the Cowboys.
Like Robinson did on a possible walk-in touchdown and Slayton did on a third-and-long beyond the sticks and Nabers did on the sideline when he suffered his concussion.
“We feel like we should catch every ball,” Robinson said. “Especially if it’s coming and hitting our hands. So, that’s on us. We’ve got to make those plays for Daniel even if it’s not a perfect ball. For us, it’s just making sure we’re looking at it all the way in and not trying to do too much before making the catch all the way.”
The Giants looked like a downfield-attacking team during training camp, but that hasn’t carried over to the regular season.
It was painfully missing against the Cowboys, when the Giants converted five of 16 third downs and settled for five field goals despite gaining 303 yards.
“There are games we have performed well in the red zone, and there are games we haven’t,” Daboll said. “The consistency factor really needs to improve.”
Jones didn’t hit Nabers in stride on a wide-open 39-yard completion that could’ve gone for more, and he underthrew two shots to Slayton, including one a free play due to a delayed penalty that could’ve gone for a touchdown but wound up as a negated interception.
“Both of them, he didn’t put enough into it. So, we’ll just keep working on it,” Daboll said. “I thought Slay did a good job of creating separation. He could’ve had about five [receptions] for over 100.”
The Giants looked like a run- and play-action-pass-based offense against the Commanders but are averaging 2.4 yards per carry in the two games since then.
Remove a 43-yard victory-sealing run against the Browns, and the two-game average is 1.7 yards per carry despite facing the NFL’s worst-ranked rushing defense (Cowboys).
Back to the drawing board.
“It felt like at times we weren’t blocking the right people on some plays and it came back and bit us in the butt at the end,” left guard Jon Runyan Jr. said. “We had what we needed. We were moving the ball really well and we weren’t able to get it done.”
Getting it done without Nabers feels like a big ask.
Slayton returned from a concussion within a week earlier this season, but medical experts agree that all concussions are different and there is no standard return time, even though Nabers declared himself “OK” on Instagram after the game.
“We’ll just take it day by day here,” Daboll said, “and see where he’s at.”