Malik Nabers did not like being labelled a “bad teammate” and immediately called out Fox broadcasters for questioning his character after the Giants’ game against the Eagles. In the days since, he continues to maintain that attitude and once again took a stand for himself.
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“I’m a speaker for myself all the time because there’s nobody else that’s going to be able to speak up for me,” Malik Nabers said after the game. “So I’m going to use my own voice and be able to speak up about me being a bad teammate. And I felt like that was just a lie. Just, you know, attacking my character as a football player and as a teammate.
“… Don’t tell the world who I am if you don’t know who I am. So I just felt like I had to speak up for myself about that.”
Nabers’ frustration during the Eagles game was captured in the broadcast. Once, when quarterback Jameis Winston missed a wide-open Nabers on a play, he slammed his helmet on the rack. Then there was the dropped a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, which had the WR slam his own helmet in anger.
Fox commentator Joe Davis said during the broadcast, “His body language has been terrible today.” Greg Olsen agreed with him, adding, “It’s just not good.”
“Listen, you want to demand the ball; you can’t throw that ball any better,” Olsen said of the dropped TD. “That’s a touchdown. You’re a premier player in this league. You’ve got an opportunity there; you’ve got to catch it.”
Another incident happened when Olsen pointed out that Nabers did not celebrate with his teammates after Isaiah Likely’s five-yard touchdown, which gave the Giants the lead with 2:25 left in the third quarter.
The frustration might have been the result of his quiet performance against the Eagles, as Nabers caught five passes for 43 yards. However, Nabers did not let Olsen’s comments slide.
“If you dnt like the way I play the game, keep the camera off me!! SIMPLE!” he wrote on his Instagram story. “But @gregolsen88 callin’ me a bad teammate when every team I’ve been on, there’s NOBODY I’ve played with has said dat bout me is crazy!
“My face the same way if I’m having a good game, bad, winning or losing.”
Even head coach John Harbaugh defended him after the game.
“I don’t make too much of it because I’ve just been living in that world for so long and kind of understand how that goes,” Harbaugh said to the media. “As far as body language, body language is interesting. It’s definitely a language, and languages are interesting because they require interpretation sometimes, especially if you don’t speak the language. … I try to stay out of all that and probably good advice for others too.”
However, Olsen disagreed with the way The New York Post reported his comments about Nabers. He denied ever calling Malik Nabers a “bad teammate.” He responded by saying, “The quote is just a flat-out lie. The words were never true.”
On Monday, November 9, he shared a video of his comments from the game on X and wrote, “Since people are going to just make up quotes and put words [sic] in my mouth, here were my comments on Malik Nabers. At no point did we ever say he was a bad teammate.”
Olsen never actually used the words “bad teammate” during the broadcast. He was talking about a wide receiver’s mindset and the importance of balancing the desire to get the ball with supporting teammates.
For now, the drama seems to be growing. Let’s wait and see how things turn out.