E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he was one of only three sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls until the past few. Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

DABOLL DISCUSSES MALIK NABERS AND HIS RISING FAME

By Dave Klein
It was the first Monday morning of the season when Giants' head coach Brian Daboll was able to wake up with a victory, courtesy of yesterday's 21-15 success over the Cleveland Browns.

But there is precious little time to celebrate, since Thursday night the guys from Dallas roll in, and it has been a while since both teams on the field had 1-2 records.

It's a question of enjoy it, but not for long. This Thursday night game begins a five-game streak that involves opponents like Dallas, Seattle, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Obviously, it wasn't a Giant fan who drew up this season's schedule.

But yesterday, Daboll chose to look on the bright side - and that now translates into Malik Nabers.

The rookie wide receiver, sixth overall draft pick out of LSU, added to his sparkling rookie season with eight catches for 78 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The performance also included a pair of catches usually described as "nobody can do that; it must be mirrors."

After the game, Daboll made mention of Nabers' impact on defenses, implying that it doesn't matter who covers him, he's going to catch the ball anyway.

How rare is it that you can have a player you don't care if he's going against an all pro or a pro bowler, you expect him to win? And how impressive is it that Malik's gotten there that quickly?

"Yeah, I know what I said," Daboll began. "You have to be aware of the people you're playing. We certainly have a good one this week that I think will be matched up quite a bit in (Cowboys cornerback Trevon) Diggs, so you definitely have to be aware. But when you have confidence in your skilled player offensively, you go ahead and give them opportunities.

"It just means you have to be that much cleaner, crisper on things when you're going against a very good player. There's a lot of teams that do that with their guys, I would say. I don't want to speak for them in their game plan meetings. But like I said before many times, I'm glad we have him."

Nabers' performance Sunday earned him a record, too. His 23 catches and 271 yards made him the first rookie receiver in league history to accomplish those numbers in his first three games.

And then the coach referenced the bond forming between Nabers and quarterback Daniel Jones, a certain chemical reaction only the best pass-catch combinations have ever achieved.

"I said this yesterday, there's a trust element to a quarterback and a receiver," he explained. "And I think Daniel has that with really all of our skill guys. The amount of work that he puts into it: the extra individual periods, the routes on air, the times where the defense is going and they go over during practice and throw extra things, the communication in the film room and they meet together quite often.

"It's not just Nabers. He's got it with (wide receiver) Wan'Dale (Robinson). He's played with (wide receiver) Slay (Darius Slayton) the longest. So, that's an important part of the passing game, the trust that you're going to be where you're supposed to be, your body language is going to be good, you can do a good job of coming back to the ball, going up and getting it, making a play. It's still a work in progress. It's early, but they've worked hard at it."

And finally, is Nabers better than the coach expected he would be this early in his pro career?

"I think he's confident in his skill set and I'm confident in his skill set," he responded. "We spent a lot of time with him leading up to the draft, and then really got to know him through OTAs and mini camps and training camp, where he excelled. I have a lot of confidence in him.

"So, I think we target him a fair amount, but I think he's earned that. He's earned the right to have those opportunities. And look, one game, it might ... I don't know what, he's had 30 t[targets] the past two weeks, I think. But there'll be adjustments throughout a game where things are happening and everybody's going to have to be dialed in. He's a competitive young man. He's just a football player. So, glad we got him."

Can't argue with any of that, of course.

***** ***** *****

CBs Dru Phillips (a rookie) and veteran Adoree Jackson left the game with pulled calf muscles, and considering the short time until the next kickoff, they must be considered questionable for now. Oh, the embarrassment! Dallas has won 13 of the last 14 games against the Giants, including last year's embarrassing 40-0 shellacking in the season opener. And the Cowboys are favored by 4½ points, but the statistic to get stomach pains over is that last season, the two meetings between the team resulted in two Dallas victories by a combined score of 89-17.

Questions? Comments?
Send it over to davesklein@aol.com

You can subscribe Dave's newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here. - Team Giants

NOW - Send a request to davesklein@aol.com for a free week's worth of news!