Another week, another blown lead for the Giants.
The Giants held a 27-17 lead over the Lions early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss, but once again, could not hold on. After allowing a Lions touchdown early in the quarter, the Giants were controlling the clock for much of the quarter during a seven-minute drive that brought them to first-and-goal at Detroit’s four-yard line with three minutes and change remaining.
A touchdown at that point would’ve pretty much sealed a Giants’ victory, but they were unable to score. New York rushed the ball on first down, threw incomplete on second down and rushed again on third down. That third down run set them back four yards, giving the Giants fourth-and-goal from the six-yard line. Rather than kick a field goal to go up six points, Giants interim coach Mike Kafka decided to go for it and try to win the game there. Their attempt failed, and the Lions managed to kick a field goal to tie the game up in regulation before going on to win in overtime.
Giants receiver Malik Nabers, who is out for the season with a torn ACL, expressed frustration with this sequence of calls in a since deleted tweet. “Sometimes I think they b makin us lose on purpose!” Nabers wrote. “Cause it’s no way, bor you throw the ball instead of runnin it to make em burn 2 timeouts?? then you dnt kick the field goal.??? Then they have to go down and score!!! Football common sense!!!!”
When asked about the tweet on Wednesday, Kafka repeated multiple times that he did not see it and has not talked to Nabers about the post. “All I know is that I really like the call. I stand by it. I don’t have any regrets about it. I thought we were aggressive to try to go win the game,” Kafka said.
Mike Kafka said he didn't see Malik Nabers' deleted tweet and says he still "stands by" his playcalling
When asked "if" a player tweeted something like that, Kafka said: "That's the beauty of the National Football League. You can express yourself any way you want" pic.twitter.com/1tIbACH6Cl
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) November 26, 2025
After getting pressed further about what Nabers posted, Kafka added, “I think the beauty of the National Football League is the players have the ability to express themselves. That’s the beauty of the National Football League. You can express yourself any way you want. The beauty of it is, and I think any player, they’re going to go out there and they’re going to have an opinion of what they’d like to see. But at the end of the day those are the calls we’re going to make on game day and those are the calls we’re going to make for the betterment of the team.”
Instead of the play-calling, the blame for another late Giants collapse fell on the defense with the team firing defensive coordinator Shane Bowen after the loss.
New York will look to rebound when they take on the Patriots this week on Monday Night Football.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
SI BTN Newsletter. Start off your day with SI:CYMI. dark. FREE NEWSLETTER