Giants’ Malik Nabers walks back (and doubles down on) fiery postgame comments after Bucs loss

Malik Nabers said he wished he used different verbiage when he said the Giants played “soft as f—” after Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“Yeah, after watching the film, I wish I would have used different words to describe the game afterwards,” said Nabers, who said Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen met with him about his comments on Monday. “I don’t think it was really soft, I think it was a lack of technique. We were playing our butts off… We were doing a lot of things that just wasn’t us as an offense.”
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He did not, however, walk back his comments toward coach Brian Daboll, whom Nabers basically blamed for his zero targets in the first half.
“If I had an opportunity to go back and change the words that I said, I would,” said Nabers. “I still stand on what I said. I said it. I don’t have no regrets with what I said.”
Nabers wound up flipping his zero-target first half into a 64-yard, six-catch (and nine-target) day, though it obviously wasn’t enough to put up a fight against the Bucs, who rolled them 30-7.
This performance led to a number of fiery postgame quotes from team leaders.
Dexter Lawrence also used the word “soft,” and said it’s the reason they got the ‘s—” beaten out of them. Brian Burns said “that’s a–” when asked about the lopsided margin. Jermaine Eluemunor said he doesn’t think every player was “giving 100%.”
Both Lawrence and Eluemunor, though, walked back their “soft” comments on Tuesday.
“Well, about the soft thing, I think you guys need to be held accountable for how you put it out there,” said Lawrence. “I didn’t say, ‘We are soft,’ as a team. I think I said we ‘played’ that way. We lost 30-7. That’s not okay. We’re in the NFL. So, for you all to put the message out that way is not okay, as well, and should be held accountable for that. But I think, like I said, we came out today with good energy. We came out today embracing this moment that we have and that we get to go play on Thanksgiving. So, we’re excited about that.”
“I think that I was little emotional after the game, because I hate losing,” Eluemunor said. “I’ve just got to focus on my play and control what I can control — not comment on other people. Because that gets blown out of proportion. And it’s just bad. Instead of calling people out, I think I can be more positive and try to uplift people more.”
The Giants have a quick turnaround this week as they meet the Cowboys (4-7) at AT&T Stadium on Thanksgiving.
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Ryan Novozinsky may be reached at [email protected]. You can follow him on X @ryannovo62.