Giants avoid winless season at home as Malik Nabers, Drew Lock have big days vs. Colts

The Giants knew their fans have been rooting for losses. A defeat Sunday would’ve been cheered as much as a win — maybe even more — because of draft placement.

Well, the Giants didn’t care. The offense didn’t care as Drew Lock and Malik Nabers had career days. The defense didn’t care, forcing three turnovers.

Even the Giants fans at MetLife Stadium allowed themselves to enjoy the 45-33 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Lock threw for four touchdowns (tying his career high) and ran for one, and his 5-yard TD run with 2:57 left all but ensured that the Giants would not set an NFL record by going 0-9 at home this season.They had been in jeopardy of going winless at home for the first time since 1974, but they earned their first home victory since Jan. 7 last season. 

The Giants (3-13), who went ahead by 15 points twice and had that lead cut to two twice, also snapped their franchise-record losing streak at 10 games. A locker room that had grown quieter each week instead featured loud cheers and smiles.

“It was good to get a win at home, I'll say that,” coach Brian Daboll said. “But it means more to me for the players and the coaches.”

The only downside was losing their hold on the No. 1 overall draft pick in April. The win tied them with the Patriots, Titans and Browns for the NFL’s worst record. According to NFL.com, the Giants slid from first to fourth in the NFL draft order because of a tougher strength of schedule. The Patriots now would have the first pick.

But that didn’t matter to the Giants players who tasted victory for the first time since Oct. 6.

“You would rather your team go out there and fight for every inch than lay down and just take a [butt] whooping,” left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said. “Yeah, you get the pick that you want, but what is that player or who they want coming into? You got to establish some sort of culture.”

Lock finished 17-for-23 for 309 yards and a 155.3 rating.   After throwing two pick-6s last week against the Falcons, he had no turnovers in his fourth start of the season.

Nabers was targeted eight times and had a career-high 171 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches. He has 104 catches for 1,140 yards, joining Odell Beckham Jr. as the only Giants rookie with more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

“It felt good to go out there with my brothers on the last home game and get a win for all the fans that came out today,” said Nabers, who had four catches for 103 yards in the first half. 

  Nabers' first reception was a 31-yard catch-and-run in which he broke a tackle and scored to put the Giants ahead for good at 7-3 with 1:05 left in the first quarter. The drive was aided by a 40-yard run by Tyrone Tracy Jr., the Giants’ longest run since Nov. 10. When Nabers scored, they became the first rookie teammates with at least 1,000 scrimmage yards in a season since Saints duo Reggie Bush and Marques Colston in 2006.

Nabers added a 34-yard catch  in the second quarter that set up Lock’s third touchdown pass, a 5-yarder to Wan’Dale Robinson,  as the Giants went ahead 21-6. On the previous drive, Darius Slayton caught a 32-yard touchdown pass.

Nabers'  second touchdown  put a dagger in the Colts’ chances after they got within 28-26 with 10:53 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Alec Pierce caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco, putting the Colts (7-9) in position to tie with a two-point conversion. They nearly got it, too. Flacco threw a short pass to Michael Pittman Jr. and he lateraled to Jonathan Taylor, but Taylor — who appeared headed for the end zone — seemed to take his eyes off the ball and fumbled it.

At that point, the Giants had only 34 yards in the second half and Nabers hadn’t been targeted. Right on cue, he caught a pass from Lock,  escaped from two defenders and raced down the right sideline for a 59-yard touchdown.

It was  the Giants’ longest play from scrimmage of the season. They finished with six plays that went at least 31 yards after going four consecutive games without one.

“When 11 guys are on the field doing their job the way it’s supposed to be, that’s the way it’s supposed to look like,” Nabers said. “And Drew was doing a hell of a job of delivering the football to as many receivers as he could.”

It wasn’t just the offense. Ihmir Smith-Marsette   returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to give the Giants a 28-13 lead. It was their first kickoff return for a touchdown since Dwayne Harris on Oct. 25, 2015.

Dane Belton and Dru Phillips contributed interceptions — the Giants entered the game with only three picks in 15 games — and Kayvon Thibodeaux had a strip sack on Flacco (26-for-38, 330 yards, two TD passes) in the fourth quarter.

“It's never easy when you're losing,'' Daboll said. "But I'm proud of the character of the people in the building and I'm mostly happy for them.”

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.