Malik Nabers, Daniel Jones return to action in Giants' loss to Texans

HOUSTON — In the Giants’ 28-10 loss to the Houston Texans, we learned that Malik Nabers is a gamer, including in the preseason. Six days after spraining his left ankle, the rookie wide receiver started Saturday’s preseason game.

“He was ready to go,” coach Brian Daboll said. “Anyone who was ready to go today was going to play.”

Nabers finished the game with four catches for 54 yards.

In Daniel Jones’ first game action since he tore the ACL in his right knee on Nov. 5 last season, Nabers was targeted on Jones’ first and third passes of the game, but they couldn’t connect. Nabers did make a terrific sideline catch later in the first quarter.

“That felt pretty good, to get in the game and catch a couple of footballs,” Nabers said. “There were a lot of plays I didn’t make, especially on the [first drive]. I’m still mad at myself that I didn’t come down with that one.”

The rookie is proving to be hard on himself.

“Wherever [Jones] throws the ball,” Nabers said, “I want to be able to catch it.”

There were plenty of signs that Saturday wasn’t the Giants’ day, including Nabers not hauling in an early pass in traffic and Jones throwing a 5-yard pick-6 to Houston safety Jalen Pitre for the game’s first score. Jones was 11-for-18 for 138 yards with two interceptions.

“A little shaky at the start” is how the quarterback characterized it.

Said Daboll: “You don’t give yourself a chance when you turn the ball over. Obviously, that’s something we need to improve on, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”

With 2:40 to play in the first half, Jones threw another interception, this one by Derek Stingley on a pass intended for Jalin Hyatt near the end zone.

And so it went for the Giants in their only preseason game away from New Jersey.

Preseason statistics don’t matter, of course. They often lack context.

But the first interception thrown by Jones appeared to be a bad decision.

“We’ll evaluate it,” Daboll said. “That’s what these games are for.”

Jones threw a pass directly to Stingley on the first offensive play of the game, but he dropped the sure interception. Jones hit tight end Theo Johnson on a screen pass on second down and then saw Nabers drop a pass on third down to end the first possession.

It has been interesting to see how Daboll has reacted as the offensive play-caller. He clearly favors an aggressive approach.

“One of the plans was to throw a lot of play-action today to see how our [offensive] line does and push the ball down the field,” he said.

The Giants did have a productive second quarter (when they scored their only points on Devin Singletary’s 1-yard touchdown run and Graham Gano’s 31-yard field goal).

A field goal, clearly, was not what Daboll wanted to see.

He did like seeing receiver Darius Slayton making three catches for 59 yards.

“I was going to throw a bunch of deep balls today to see how our line does, to feel a little bit of rush when it’s live,” Daboll said. “To push the ball down the field, which has been a point of emphasis. On the third play to Nabers, I thought [Jones] did a good job.”

Daboll did allow for this concession: “You’d like to have a touchdown, but [for Jones’] first game back, live [tackling] and he scrambled for a first time. We did some good things, but obviously, all of us can do better.”

Blue notes

The Giants will play their third and final preseason game on Saturday against the Jets at MetLife Stadium. It will be interesting to see if Daboll plays many, or any, starters in that game. He might be inclined to do so if he believes his team needs to head into the regular season on a better note . . . Daboll said wide receiver Gunner Olszewski, also a returner, will be out “for a while” with a groin injury .  .  . Evan Neal did not play. He was on the sideline in workout clothes .  .  . Tight end/fullback Jakob Johnson, who was signed Friday, got his first action, entering in the second quarter .  .  . Houston fans let out a loud cheer for Stefon Diggs when he made his only catch, for 9 yards. Diggs came to the Texans in an offseason trade with the Bills .  .  . Linebacker Matthew Adams left the game in the third quarter with a groin injury.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.