KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Malik Nabers never had fewer than four catches in his first 17 NFL games — and even that only happened once.
Nabers, a second-year New York Giants wide receiver from LSU, finished his fifth career game last season with four catches for 41 yards against the future Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. He’s had at least five catches in every other game.
He entered Sunday leading the NFL in receiving yards (238), but that changed after the Kansas City Chiefs limited Nabers to two catches for 13 yards on seven targets. Nabers slipped to fourth overall with Monday Night Football still to play.
Cornerback Jaylen Watson picked off Giants quarterback Russell Wilson on a deep corner intended for Nabers in the second quarter, leaving him with a 0.0 quarterback rating when targeting his top receiver in a 22-9 loss to the Chiefs.
“Obviously, taking away No. 1 (Nabers) — that was a big thing for us,” defensive captain Nick Bolton, who finished with a game-high 14 tackles, said.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo challenged his former team to beat Kansas City with someone other than Nabers. New York couldn’t do it.
“They’ve got good receivers,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That No. 1 is the real deal. He’s as good as there is in this league. For us to be able to put the clamps on him a little bit, that’s not an easy chore. He’s a heckuva football player.”
Despite missing two games last season, Nabers racked up 109 catches for 1,204 yards — which ranked fifth and seventh, respectively, in the NFL — with seven touchdowns last season, earning a Pro Bowl nod and finishing fifth in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.
He's been great, but Kansas City’s secondary was simply better in Sunday’s primetime showdown.
“They played a fair amount of split safety,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “We got a bunch of split safety last week — just didn't get the job done this week with it.”
Against Dallas, Nabers caught nine of 13 targets for 167 yards with two touchdowns, but Spags’ crew didn’t allow him to catch a single pass until the fourth quarter.
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