Panthers 20, Giants 17
Q. Malik, how are you feeling?
MALIK NABERS: I feel good. Trainers came up, asked me a couple questions about how I feel, gave them the feedback. Yeah, I feel good.
Q. Why did it take so long for you -- you guys got going in the second half. Why did it take so long to get going?
MALIK NABERS: I mean, we got to stay off 3rd down, get some explosives going, stop the turnovers from happening, and we were right in that game.
Q. Did you talk to Tracy at all after the fumble?
MALIK NABERS: Yeah, I did. I went over to him because I know that feeling. You don't kick a man when he's already down. He knows what he did. That feeling is not a good feeling that you've got to carry over to the week until it's time for you to play the next game.
So I went over there, I told him that play doesn't define you. That one play doesn't lose us the game. I went over there and I said, you played a hell of a game. He's carrying the ball pretty good for us, so we're feeding him the ball. He got us going in the second half with that score. He's been doing a great job. He's preparing right. You don't kick a man when he's already down. I shared a couple words with him just to lift his courage.
But like I said, no matter how many times people come up to you and tell you it's not your fault, you still got that feeling inside that it was your fault. But like I told him, it's not his fault.
Q. Malik, when you guys finally got to overtime after that field goal, how confident were you?
MALIK NABERS: I was very confident. I went up to Dabes, and I said, if there's anybody to give the ball to when we get past and to score, let it be me. I'm going to put it on my back. Anything that goes right or wrong, I'm ready to take it all, so just put it on me.
Q. Talk about the frustration levels at losing five in a row.
MALIK NABERS: Mixed emotions. Frustration, want to try and fix it, try and get better.
But as a group, you can't point fingers at each other. It takes 11 men on that field to win a game. It takes 22, offense and defense, for you to win that game, plus special teams.
We've got to find ways to win one. We've got to find a way to stop turnovers, get the offense going. Our defense has been playing a good job. It's hard for our defense to keep going out there tired, trying to get stops when our offense is not putting points up.
We've got to do a better job of playing complementary football, doing good stuff on offense, doing good stuff on defense, and carrying each other, picking each other one. That's how you lead, that's how you gain a team, that's how you gain a family.
Q. Does this bye come at a good time do you think?
MALIK NABERS: Yes, it's good to just get your body back right, look at the old film, see what we need to increase on. That's really it.
Q. Did you go get tested for concussion?
MALIK NABERS: Yeah, I got sent to the tent just to receive protocol about that. They saw me get up, grab my head, and they just wanted to make precautions to my safety.
Q. On that flea flicker did you think you and/or Wan'Dale were open and had a chance to --
MALIK NABERS: You know, yeah. When you look at it, you can see that we were open, but there's many things that's going on in Daniel's face that us receivers don't see. We're just out there running our route. We see that we're open. But there's a lot of things going on in the backfield that you don't know. You give the ball to the running back, defense collide down, so they're all blitzing, you're flicking it back and it's just us in coverage. But there's a lot of things going on back there with Daniel.
I asked him about it. He said he couldn't see us. So that's the play.
Q. Piggybacking off that question about the concussions, I'm wondering if you're concerned at all about CTE, the brain disease.
MALIK NABERS: I don't feel like answering that question. I mean, it comes with the sport. You're going to hit your head. That's just the game that we play. We sign up for that.
Q. Do you think the league is doing enough to mitigate the risk by using changes, rule changes and other safety protocols such as Guardian caps? Do you think that's enough?
MALIK NABERS: I mean, they have had people with concussions on the Guardian cap. We continue to make better helmets for our safety, but that just comes with the game. You're going to hit your head. There's going to be head to head contact. It's football. It's what we sign up for.
The league has been doing a great job of just -- when we hit our head, they take us out, go get protocol. Even if something is not wrong with us -- I hit my head today. Nothing was wrong with me. I just got up a little bit lackadaisical. But they've been doing a great job of just having our safety, having our back, making sure we stay on in our future.
Q. It's a very long flight home, obviously. Does this loss make it seem even longer do you think?
MALIK NABERS: I mean, no. I mean, it hurts. Another loss, losing season, it hurts. The biggest thing is putting it behind you. The game is over. Can't go back and play the game. Take that ride home, look on the film, look on the flight, just look at the film, evaluate myself, try to see all the things I can work on to help the team. That's really it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports