Nabers quiet night highlights Giants' 0-3 tumble in 22-9 loss to Chiefs
Two weeks of high production fade as New York’s offense stalls; Nabers finishes with two catches for 13 yards after a promising start with Russell Wilson.
MetLife Stadium hosted a Saturday-night style result that left the New York Giants with their third straight loss to start the season, a 22-9 defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs. Malik Nabers, who had spent the first two weeks of the season lighting up the stat sheet with Russell Wilson, was largely invisible for most of the game. He didn’t record a catch until early in the fourth quarter and finished with two receptions for 13 yards after briefly leaving the field with an apparent injury on a deep pass that fell incomplete in the end zone on the next play.
New York’s offense, which had flashed big-play potential a week earlier against Dallas, could not sustain momentum against a Chiefs defense that tightened up in critical moments. Nabers was targeted just three times in the first two quarters, and a troubling sequence earlier in the game helped sap the team’s chances — Wilson threw an end-zone interception on a drive that could have given the Giants their first lead. Wan'Dale Robinson contributed a 26-yard catch, but the offense otherwise stalled as Kansas City built a lead that proved difficult to erase.
Nabers returned to the field in the fourth quarter and added two more catches, but the night felt like a step back from the production he showed in the prior two weeks. “It’s just how the game went,” Nabers said afterward. “Can’t do anything about it.” The remark carried a mix of frustration and acceptance that football’s ebb and flow often hits players differently from week to week.
Head coach Brian Daboll acknowledged the broader issue: the offense needs to do a better job getting Nabers involved and finding ways to exploit favorable matchups when they present themselves. “We’ve got to do a better job with that,” Daboll said, underscoring the team’s need for consistency and playmakers to assert themselves during games that remain within reach.
Robinson offered a tempered assessment, noting that while the Chiefs’ defense did what they do well, it should not excuse a lack of production from an offense capable of more. “It was kind of the way they were playing us, but that’s no excuse,” Robinson said after the game. Nabers echoed the sentiment with a mix of grit and determination, insisting he would work to contribute more moving forward. “I’m bummed,” Nabers said. “Anybody would feel beat up after going 0-3.” He added, “How frustrated do you think? We’re 0-3. We can’t win.”
For Nabers, the night marked a stark contrast to the first 19 NFL games of his career. He had registered 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns over that span and had looked set for an even bigger season this year with Wilson. The Week 2 performance against Dallas, highlighted by a 48-yard touchdown that briefly gave the Giants a lead with 25 seconds left in the fourth, reinforced the expectations. Nabers also showed he could break free on vertical routes, even as a notable moment against Dallas involved Kaiir Elam appearing to grab Nabers’ facemask on a contested catch — a no-call that drew attention from observers and fans alike. Nonetheless, the sequence underscored the variance that accompanies a wide receiver still growing in a new system.
The Giants’ Sunday night setback leaves them 0-3 and searching for answers as they move toward their next assignment. Nabers will try to translate the early-season bursts into a more consistent presence, and New York will look for more reliable ball movement and red-zone efficiency as it seeks to avoid another early-season stumble. The immediate task is clear: fix the offense, find ways to get Nabers and the other playmakers more opportunities, and begin to reverse a start that has already become the conversation around a franchise hoping to stave off a repeat of last year’s rough opening stretch. 
As the season progresses, Nabers remains a focal point for the Giants’ offense. His production will be a barometer for how quickly New York can shift from patchwork results to a more cohesive attack, especially against teams that can deploy similar coverage schemes to Kansas City. The next steps will matter not just for Nabers’ trajectory, but for a Giants team that must demonstrate resilience and progress in order to salvage a promising-sounding start that has quickly soured into a challenging early-season stretch. 