Malik Nabers breaks Giants’ rookie receptions record in depressing fashion

ATLANTA — The record is a significant accomplishment, but this is not the way Malik Nabers wanted to achieve it.

Nabers entered Sunday’s game against the Falcons with 90 receptions, one shy of the Giants’ single-season rookie record for catches.

It did not take long for Nabers to get what he needed.

Malik Nabers runs with the ball during the Giants-Falcons game on Dec. 22, 2024.

Malik Nabers runs with the ball during the Giants-Falcons game on Dec. 22, 2024. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

He caught a pᴀss for 6 yards on the first play on offense and on the second series caught another pᴀss for a gain of 6 yards to claim the record.

“Kudos to me,’’ Nabers said. “But we didn’t win.’’

No, the Giants did not win.

They did not come close, losing, 34-7, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, their franchise-record 10th consecutive loss.

Nabers finished with seven receptions for 68 yards, giving him 97 receptions for 969 yards.

He has two games remaining to reach 100 receptions and 1,000 receiving yards.

Malik Nabers is tackled during the Giants-Falcons game on Dec. 22, 2024.

Malik Nabers is tackled during the Giants-Falcons game on Dec. 22, 2024. Getty Images

Yet the Giants are 2-13 and Nabers could not find much joy in the numbers he is compiling.

“I mean, it’s really how you look at it.’’ he said. “There’s some people who are going to say he did all the things he did but he was on a losing team. There’s people who are going to be saying he did what he did, it’s a pat on my back but I’m trying to win. The ultimate goal is to win. You celebrate all that after.’’

Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014 and running back Saquon Barkley in 2018 amᴀssed 91 receptions as rookie


Nabers on his second reception came down hard on his left shoulder and left the field for a few plays to get it checked out before returning.

He said he had a stinger.

Nabers was called for two illegal-shift penalties — the second negated his 23-yard reception — and has been called for that five times this season.

 

Head coach Brian Daboll said the second one was not Nabers’ fault.

“They’re calling that a lot, especially with the motions, the whole offense has to be set before you motion,’’ Nabers said. “So they’re gonna keep calling it if everybody’s not set.’’


Falcons rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. in his first NFL start was 18 of 27 for 202 yards.

He did not throw a touchdown pᴀss and was intercepted once when the ball in the hands of TE Kyle Pitts deflected into the air and was picked off by CB Cor’Dale Flott on the goal line.

The Giants did not gush about Penix afterward.

“The game was simple for him,’’ OLB Brian Burns said. “They ran the ball damn near 40 times. A lot of their plays were double-side chips and boots and rollouts, quick-pᴀss scenes. They kept it simple for him and they executed at a high level. So hats off to them.’’

Michael Penix looks to pᴀss during the Falcons-Giants game on Dec. 22, 2024.

Michael Penix looks to pᴀss during the Falcons-Giants game on Dec. 22, 2024. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

S Jason Pinnock was forced out in the third quarter with an eye injury.

Injuries to John Runyan Jr. and Aaron Stinne dug deeply into the depth chart on the interior of the offensive line, reaching down to Jake Kubas, who made his first NFL start, moving in at left guard.

Kubas became the first undrafted rookie to start a game for the Giants at guard — in a non-strike season — since Dick Hanson on Dec. 19, 1971.

Related Posts

Buccaneers lose control of NFC South on insane sequence to end loss to Cowboys

The Buccaneers suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Cowboys that cost them control of the NFC South. The Cowboys came away with a 26-24 win over the…

Meet the world’s first PREGNANT ancient Egyptian mummy! Scientists reconstruct the face of a 2,000-year-old corpse who died while 28 weeks into her pregnancy

The face of the world’s first pregnant ancient Egyptian mummy has been reconstructed by forensic scientists. Known as ‘The Mysterious Lady’, the embalmed woman was analysed last year…

Inside Sicily’s ultra creepy Palermo catacombs where hundreds of rotting ᴅᴇᴀᴅ bodies line the corridors just inches from visitors

THESE ghoulish pH๏τographs show a 16th century Italian crypt that holds 8,000 corpses. The Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily, Italy on January 2019 contains around 1,252 mummies,…

Giants’ 60-year run of avoiding this humiliation seems set to end

They played, they turned offensive football back several decades and they lost. Ladies and gentlemen, the Giants’ 2024 season rolls on. For those who watched from start…

The two-headed mummy that stirred panic in Ottoman palace

An ancient Egyptian mummy with two heads, belonging to a human child and a crocodile, has been pH๏τographed for the first time on July 6, after more than a…

Josh Allen injury concerns heightened after Bills’ ugly game against Patriots

NYU Langone’s Mehul R. Shah, MD talks recovery of Knicks’ Mitchell Robinson | The Injury Report Keep WatchingNext video in 8 seconds 0 of 3 minutes, 10…