The New York Giants fell to 2-6 on the season with their 26-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, and amid the disappointing season, head coach Brian Daboll is getting a lot of criticism, much to the dismay of Giants legend Tiki Barber, who is putting the blame on the players.
“Because he's a rookie, do you need anything else?” Tiki Barber said on WFAN. “He's a rookie. I. Hate. Rookies. There's been one rookie in the history of my playing career that I loves, Jeremy Shockey, 'cause he got it. He was a dawg from jump. Rookies suck, 'cause they don't get it. Now I don't think Malik Nabers is one of these guys that's just happy to be there, but a lot of guys are just happy to play, ‘hey I'm happy to, I'm in the NFL, I'm gonna be a superstar.' Dude, you don't know the work that it takes to be a superstar. You can't quit on plays Deonte Banks. You can't drop passes Malik Nabers. You gotta run routes. The first game of the season go back and listen to it. Find it on the Audacy app. I got on Malik Nabers because he was lazy running his routes and Daniel Jones is waiting for him to come out of his break and he's not even at the break point yet, right? Rookies are lazy and stupid because they don't understand what it takes to be a professional.”
Malik Nabers has been as advertised for the most part, but the drops have been a story for him so far this season, with a few of them coming on Monday in the Giants' loss to the Steelers.
Tiki Barber gets real on Daniel Jones' play with Giants
Going further with his defense of Daboll's play calling, criticizing a Daniel Jones throw to Darius Slayton that was late and resulted in an incompletion.
Related New York Giants NewsArticle continues below
“So don't sit here and talk to me about coaching because players are the ones that ultimately have to do it. Now if a coach can't motivate a guy over time, then you know what? The coach has to take accountability for that. But with the New York Giants, Dabes (Brian Daboll) coaches these guys hard. They're not executing. I can show it to you on tape, I did it all last year with Zach Wilson, why he was failing. It wasn't because Nate Hackett was calling bad plays, because Zach Wilson couldn't determine what to do. Daniel Jones sits and waits, Troy Aikman said it on the broadcast last night, ‘Daniel Jones has gotta see it before he throws it.' He gets Darius Slayton destroyed on the sideline 'cause he waits.”
At 2-6, the Giants are set to host the 6-2 Washington Commanders, who they narrowly lost to in Week 2. For now, Daniel Jones will remain the starter.
