New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers just revealed his frustrations after his team’s Week 12 loss to the Detroit Lions. With several key playmakers out and backup quarterback Jameis Winston stepping in for Jaxson Dart, the Giants nearly forced an overtime thriller. But the Giants’ 34–27 loss in the end left Nabers furious. 

“Sometimes I think they b makin us lose on purpose!” wrote Malik Nabers in a now-deleted post after the game. “Cause it’s no way, bro you throw the ball instead of runnin it to make em burn 2 timeouts?? then you dnt kick the field goal.??? Then they have to go down and score!!! Football common sense!!!! Am I missing something?”

Malik Nabers’ post sounded like a direct shot at the Giants’ interim coach, Mike Kafka, and the coaching staff. The WR tore his ACL earlier this season and hasn’t played since September, but he clearly hasn’t checked out. Instead, he’s watching every decision from the sideline. And he didn’t like what he saw. 

Even though Malik Nabers deleted the post quickly, screenshots spread everywhere. But should anyone really be shocked at this point? The week 12 loss officially knocked the Giants out of playoff contention. Emotions were already high. But Nabers’ frustrations were focused on a specific sequence in the fourth quarter. 

In the Week 12 game, the Giants led 27-24 with 3:19 left in the fourth quarter and had the ball at the Lions’ 4-yard line. This was their chance to close the game. But they ran into trouble. Mike Kafka called for Jameis Winston to throw a pass on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line. The Giants then failed to score, turned the ball over on downs, and gave the Lions a chance. 

Detroit then needed only a field goal to tie, and their kicker, Jake Bates, drilled a 59-yarder. Then came the overtime, in which the Giants got handed yet another loss. At that moment, anyone watching probably asked the same question: Why risk everything on a fourth-down pass? But Malik Nabers preferred a different strategy. 

The WR suggested that he wanted to see the Giants run the ball three times. Then force the Lions to burn all their timeouts, kick the field goal, and go up six. It would have made the Lions go for a touchdown, and that could’ve meant a win for the Giants. It sounds simple, right? But it did not happen, and that only made Nabers more frustrated.

But the frustration around the Giants has been building for weeks, and Malik Nabers’ deleted social media post just added fuel to the firestorm in New York. Just a few days ago, the team fired head coach Brian Daboll. And now, under Mike Kafka, the team fell to 2-10 with a six-game losing streak. Still, Kafka defended his decisions. 

Mike Kafka justifies his decisions despite the Giants’ Week 12 loss to the Lions

The Giants blew a 17-7 lead and lost in overtime against the Lions. And that happened despite several trick plays that went in favour of the Giants. As such, post-game, reporters immediately pressed him on why he passed on that fourth-and-goal instead of taking the points. But Kafka did not seem to have any regrets. 

“Yeah, you know, we did want to be aggressive,” said Kafka. “Just thought it was a good time to just take points in that situation, go up two scores… Yeah, we’re just trying to score as many points as possible and trying to win the game. So if we’re going to be aggressive on fourth down, that means that we like to playcall like we want to do.”

The Giants’ interim coach had played it safe earlier in the game. On fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Younghoe Koo kicked a field goal. But Kafka insisted that this earlier choice didn’t affect his late-game decision. Still, he at least gave some thought to his approach as he further explained that coaching requires balancing bold decisions with calculated risks.

“I think there’s times in the game where you just got to take that into consideration of when you want to kick a field goal, when you want to go for a touchdown,” Kafka further said. “Obviously, going to fourth-and-6 was a factor in the call.”

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Now, the reality is that, despite the changes that Kafka has implemented, the Giants keep collapsing. They have now blown five double-digit fourth-quarter leads this season. Four of those happened under Brian Daboll. Still, the interim coach tried to stay positive and called the loss “a great challenge against a really good team.” But Malik Nabers’ post reflected a growing frustration throughout the organization. So, the Giants must confront those issues directly before another player fires off the next frustrated post in New York while the team is already spiraling.