Amid that quiet, damp aftermath of a 22-9 gutting by the Chiefs, a curious tableau formed outside the Giants‘ locker room. According to NFL insider Josina Anderson, former greats Odell Beckham Jr. and Antonio Pierce stood there, 2 pillars of the franchise’s turbulent past, sharing what she called “a very interesting conversation” with a wide-eyed rookie, Malik Nabers. It was a post-game huddle with legends. 

The thing is, the Giants’ offense had just endured an act of pure, unadulterated futility. And no one felt the sting quite like Malik Nabers. On a night when his team couldn’t get anything going, the star WR, fresh off a Week 2 eruption, was held without a catch until the fourth quarter. It was a statistical anomaly, a blip on an otherwise explosive radar, and head coach Brian Daboll was quick to point the finger at his own unit.

“We have to do a better job of that,” Daboll said, addressing Nabers’ lack of involvement and the team’s offensive struggles. The coach’s words were a clinical diagnosis for what felt like a deeper, more existential malaise. The offense, Daboll would later lament, was “probably a collection of everything bad.” And the numbers back that up,  Nabers, who had never logged fewer than four receptions in a game, finished the night with a measly 2 catches for 13 yds.

The Kansas City defense, under the command of former Giants coach Steve Spagnuolo, had suffocated New York’s passing attack, limiting the entire offense to just 52 points through three weeks. It’s hard to win when your top playmaker is a ghost on the field.

QB Russell Wilson, who was himself struggling, repeatedly heaved deep balls in the general direction of his young receiver. But the execution was a mess. One particularly deflating sequence saw Wilson throw a pass ‘blatantly short,’ leading to an easy INT by Jaylen Watson.

Malik Nabers’ G-Men struggle throughout the matchup

The raw report from the field stated Nabers showed little interest in outmuscling the defender for the underthrown ball. It was a gut punch, a moment where the hunger that defined his Week 2 performance seemed to vanish. While rookie Cam Skattebo was a lone bright spot with over 120 scrimmage yards, the rest of the offense was a tire fire, culminating in a disastrous red-zone series that included an intentional grounding call and a desperate QB draw that went nowhere. It was a spectacle of failure. And in the face of all that, there was a different kind of lesson to be learned.

It’s easy to forget, given his journey, just how much of a phenomenon OBJ was when he wore the blue and white. He was pure electricity. He came out of the gate hot, nabbing the Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2014 after a season where he racked up 1,305 yds in just 12 games.

Look, his career totals 575 receptions and nearly 8,000 receiving yards are the kind of numbers that stick with you. He’s also the only player in the SB era to have two 1,000-yd seasons in 12 or fewer games, which is just bonkers. And while he was a lightning rod for drama, he was also a winner, nabbing an SB ring with the Rams, and Pierce was the heart of the defense for years, a true leader who was a key part of their Super Bowl XLII win against then-unbeaten Patriots.

One can only imagine what was said. Was it a technical note? A word of encouragement? Or a more philosophical thought about the unbearable weight of expectations in New York? Anyway, the Chiefs seem to have figured it out, starting 1-2, while these G-Men now sit at 0-3.

The thing is, the lessons you learn after the bright lights fade, the ones from the people who have walked that same, treacherous path, are often the most important. A stat sheet can tell you everything about what went wrong, but it can’t tell you how to fix the feeling.

So, Nabers stood there, a 22-year-old receiver with the world on his shoulders, listening to a man who once carried the same burden. The boos that even Daboll agreed with have ceased, replaced by the hushed tones of what’s next.