The most important body language Thursday from Malik Nabers was his lying flat on his back in stunned disappointment after he couldn’t wrestle the defeat-clinching interception away from Rasul Douglas.
It was the end of a tough night and a tougher week for Nabers, who also lost a fumble for the first time in his career as the Giants let a win slip away in a 24-21 loss to the Commanders at MetLife Stadium.
Nabers, who, even in his most frustrating past moments, is always waiting for the media as soon as the locker room opens, did not wait around to answer questions.
“My thought process was pop it up to my playmakers, have them go make a play,” J.J. McCarthy said of his final two throws against zero blitzes, including the interception.
Nabers’ body language became heavily scrutinized over the last five days because the Fox broadcast by Joe Davis and Greg Olsen on Sunday criticized him for slamming his helmet and then implied he was not happy for teammate Isaiah Likely when he scored the go-ahead touchdown against the Eagles.
With all eyes on Nabers’ movements, he tried to fool the officials Thursday into thinking that his third-quarter fumble at the 15-yard line was a dropped pass by waving his arms to signal an incompletion.
It didn’t work.
“He’s going to make some plays for us,” backup quarterback Jameis Winston said. “I thought that was an incomplete pass. He didn’t make a football move. He was actually tucking it throughout the process, but you don’t give anyone [a chance] to make a decision.”
When Likely picked up his teammate with a go-ahead 66-yard catch-and-run touchdown, Nabers ran downfield to throw the final block at the 5-yard line and then danced with Likely in the end zone.
It was a slow start for Nabers, who had three catches for 8 yards through the first 38 minutes, with an average depth of target of 1 yard behind the line of scrimmage. In other words, the Giants were calling bubble screens just to appease Nabers by getting the ball in his hands.
A body-language expert might not have liked seeing Nabers hopping up and down and gesturing to the sideline Thursday after an incompletion to Likely, but Nabers explained two days prior that, on the field, “I’m a mean guy, raging, slapping my helmet, screaming, never really smiling, but that’s just how I play the game.”
Nabers’ lone big play was a 37-yard catch on a pump-and-go double move to beat Amik Robertson.
It seemed to energize Nabers, who then celebrated Malachi Fields’ catch into the red zone by making the first-down signal. But then came his third career fumble.
He finished with five catches for 44 yards on seven targets.
The running joke between Nabers and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is that the play-caller is threatened when he doesn’t call enough passes targeting Nabers.
Nabers had four straight 100-yard games — one shy of tying Odell Beckham Jr.’s franchise record — entering the bye but has been quiet coming out of it.
