Malik Nabers — Week 2: Four Targets, One Catch, One Yard
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Tuesday, Sep 22
Nabers was targeted four times and caught one for one yard, a week after nine targets and 69 yards. The throw intended for him on third and seven from the Los Angeles 18 with 6:31 left in the half was intercepted in the end zone and returned 22 yards — the largest win-probability swing on any Giants pass or run — and the throws his way traveled 77 yards in the air, in a 28–6 loss to the Rams.
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Nothing to 14, six 31 left in the second quarter, third and seven at the Los Angeles 18. Jameis Winston threw deep middle intended for Malik Nabers, and Trent McDuffie intercepted it in the end zone and brought it out 22 yards. −4.6 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −6.7 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. That was the largest swing on any Giants pass or run all night, and it ended a drive that had reached the Los Angeles 18.
The line: four targets, one catch, one yard, no first downs, −7.1 expected points on the targets, which was the worst figure of any Giants pass-catcher. The catch was a short left for one yard on first and 20 at the Los Angeles 44 with six 37 left in the first quarter. The three that got away were an incompletion short left with six seconds left in the first quarter, on which the play-by-play notes he was injured during the play; the interception; and a deep right on third and 12 with 10 16 left in the third quarter that traveled 52 yards in the air. Three targets before halftime, one after. Two on third down, neither caught. The throws his way carried 77 yards of air; one yard of offense came back. With 11 oh one left in the second quarter the play-by-play carries an injury update saying he had returned to the game, and that is the whole of what the data says about it.
Four targets were tied for third on the team, with Theo Johnson and Cam Skattebo. Isaiah Likely was thrown to 10 times, Malachi Fields six, Darnell Mooney three, Devin Singletary once. 13 percent of the 32 Giants throws went to Nabers, against 31 percent in Week One. New York threw for a hundred 31 yards, the second-fewest of the 32 teams in Week Two, and its passing game came out at −17.6 expected points, the third-worst.
Back in June the preview's read on Nabers was an alpha ceiling attached to a knee: a hundred nine catches and 1200 yards as a rookie, then four games and a torn ligament, and a 27 percent target share in those four games that the preview called the sticky, elite part. Week One looked like that player — nine targets, 31 percent, six catches, 69 yards, and the 16-yard catch that was the biggest throw of the night. Monday was the opposite week: four targets, 13 percent, one yard, an in-game injury note and a return, and the pick in the end zone. Two games do not settle a target share, and they especially do not settle this one, because the two weeks disagree with each other completely. New York is home to the Titans on Sunday the 20-seventh.
_Data via nflverse._
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