Nabers won’t play, per Brian Daboll
The New York Giants will be without receiver Malik Nabers against the Cincinnati Bengals as the star rookie has yet to clear the concussion protocol.
The bad, yet not unexpected, news was delivered by head coach Brian Daboll during his remarks before Friday’s practice.
The outlook for Nabers looked dim when Daboll said Thursday that he hadn’t progressed in the concussion protocol since Wednesday. Observers of Thursday’s practice noted that Nabers was just riding the stationary bike on the side during the on-field portion of practice.
Nabers suffered the concussion late in the fourth quarter of the Giants’ week 4 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. Nabers went to the ground hard as he attempted to catch a pass along the sideline on 4th down. He was immediately taken off the field and into the blue medical tent for evaluation. Sunday will mark the 17th day that Nabers has been in the concussion protocol.
The Giants managed to overcome the loss of Nabers against the Seattle Seahawks with a much more equitable distribution of the football. Four different receivers saw at least four targets with Nabers out, as opposed to Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson seeing 29 of Daniel Jones’ 40 pass attempts against the Cowboys.
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said of Jones on Thursday, “I think he did a nice job distributing the football. When opportunities came up, he stepped up and ran it well as well. I think it started up front for him. The O-line did a really nice job protecting, (Offensive Line Coach) Carm (Carmen Bricillo) and those guys. The skill guys complemented that as well.”
We also know that the Giants will be without edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux as he recovers from wrist surgery.
We’ll update with the full injury report when it’s made available later on Friday.
