Cover 3: Takeaways from Giants vs. Commanders

Dan Salomone: Malik Nabers is proudly wearing Ray Flaherty’s No. 1, but No. 3 is really his digit. Third down is where teams need their best players to step up, and the rookie has done just that, among a variety of other things, in his young NFL career.

Through two games, the sixth overall pick from LSU has 15 catches for 193 yards and a touchdown. On third down in particular, he has been targeted six times, resulting in six catches for 115 yards (19.2-yard average), five first downs, four plays of 25 yards or more, and his first NFL score.

Against Washington, Daniel Jones found him for 25 yards on third-and-nine to put the Giants in scoring range on their final drive. Nabers was targeted for the 18^th and final time on fourth-and-four from the Washington 22 with 2:09 remaining in a tie game. This one, he was unable to corral as he fell out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Commanders for their game-winning drive.

“They’re high on me, they’re passing me the ball, they know I can make plays,” Nabers said after the game. “I’m sure, out of a thousand times, they’re going to continue to call that play and go at me on fourth down again. Obviously, I want to make that play. I’m disappointed. No matter how good of a game you can play, that last play came down to me. I’m hurt to let those veterans down. They know what kind of player I am – Dex(ter Lawrence), (Brian) Burns, Isaiah (Simmons), I know what kind of confidence they got in me. I don’t ever want to let my team down.”

That is the maturity you want to see from a receiver, who at 21 years and 49 days old, became the youngest player in NFL history with at least 10 receptions, 100 receiving yards, and a touchdown catch in a game. And the Giants likely wouldn’t have been in position to win without him.