Giants' Harbaugh admits tackling Nabers to relax WR's injury fears

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. --New York Giants standout wide receiver Malik Nabers revealed after Sunday night's 28-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys that head coach John Harbaugh tackled him during a walk-through earlier in the day. It was Harbaugh's way of making light of the final hurdle Nabers faced before returning from a torn ACL suffered last year.

"It just kind of evolved into an opportunity to tackle. And I couldn't pass it up, I guess," Harbaugh said with a smile Monday. "It was good. It was fun. It was all in fun. Lot of laughs. Some guys gave me a sideways look, some of the players, like, 'What are you doing?!" It was good."

It was not the first time that Harbaugh has applied such a tactic. It seems this was part of the repertoire at some point during his 18-season tenure with the Baltimore Ravens.

The Giants hired Harbaugh as their head coach earlier this year.

"I may have to add it in. I do tackle guys -- or imitate tackling guys, because I couldn't really tackle them in real life, I'm sure," he said. "I have done that before. So it wasn't a first."

Nabers was in good spirits and said he was "feeling good" after Sunday night's win. He caught six passes on nine targets for 69 yards in his first game action since last September.

The third-year receiver ultimately made a last-minute decision to play less than two hours before kickoff. Perhaps the simulated tackle from Harbaugh played into the decision.

"I knew everyone was worried about if I get tackled and stuff like that," Nabers said after the game. "Actually, Coach Harbaugh tackled me in practice. He tackled me. He wanted to see if I could take a tackle, and he was good. ... [It happened] in walk-through."

Not surprisingly, the 63-year-old coach didn't take his No. 1 wide receiver to the ground.

"Nah, I didn't go down," Nabers said with a laugh.

The whole situation caught the Giants by surprise. They have been extremely cautious with the Nabers situation after a long rehab that included some setbacks. The explosive wide receiver even wore a red no-contact jersey at practice during part of the summer.

The Giants left the final decision on whether Nabers would play up to the young receiver. So it was shocking when they saw what happened when Harbaugh approached Nabers during their Sunday walk-through.

"Yeah, we were all just chilling on the sideline. It was right before we were supposed to start our walk-through, and things were just up in the air [with Nabers playing]," quarterbackJaxson Dartsaid. "We didn't know exactly what was going to happen. And me and Coach [Harbaugh] kind of had some conversations. He's like, 'You know what, like, I think that once he gets hit for the first time and realizes that he's OK, then he's going to feel confident.'

"So I think in his mind that triggered, 'Oh, maybe I should tackle him right then and there.' So, we're all just standing there, and then all of a sudden, [Nabers] goes down on the ground, and our team's super protective of him. So we all turned to look, and it's Coach [Harbaugh] tackling [Nabers], and then he pops up and he goes, 'See, you're all good.'"

Harbaugh said Monday afternoon that the Giants made it through the game fine on the injury front. Nabers has an extra day to get his body ready for a matchup with the Los Angeles Rams on "Monday Night Football."