By A to Z Sports,Charles Goldman

Copyright yardbarker

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to face the New York Giants on “Sunday Night Football” after an 0-2 start to the season.

For defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, he’s got one player circled on the chalkboard with the label of gamebreaker. That players is none other than Giants first-round pick in 2024, former LSU WR Malik Nabers, who has quickly established himself as one of the NFL’s budding stars at the wide receiver position. At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Spagnuolo found himself surprised by how physically imposing the second-year wideout was.”I didn’t realize how big he was,” Spagnuolo said. “Like, I’m talking about physically put together, like he’s — we put pictures up in our unit meeting with the team we’re playing, there’s one of him, and boy, he’s rock solid, man. He’s got forearms, and so he’s a physical guy, and he can go up and get the ball, catch radius. I mean, we talk all about that. He’s going to be a guy we need to take away. He’s a gamebreaker; he’s the guy that we got up there as a gamebreaker. Or if we let him wreck the game, gamewrecker, it’ll be a long day for us. So, he’d better be a focus.”

Malik Nabers Quick Facts:

No. 6 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
He was the second-most productive rookie receiver in 2024 behind fellow LSU tiger Brian Thomas Jr., posting 109 receptions, 1204 yards, and seven touchdowns.
He currently leads the NFL through two weeks with 14 receptions for 238 yards and two touchdowns.

How do the Chiefs manage to slow down Nabers in Week 3? They’ll look to repeat one of the best parts of their Week 2 performance against the Eagles.

The Chiefs’ secondary stepped up in a big way against Eagles WRs AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. Can they do it again vs. Giants WR Malik Nabers?

The Chiefs had plenty of problems in Week 2 against the Eagles, but the defensive secondary wasn’t one of them. After an abysmal performance in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City’s DBs stepped up to hold Eagles WRs AJ Brown and Devonta Smith to a combined nine receptions on 14 targets for 80 yards. In total, Eagles receivers gained less than 100 yards (94) receiving in Week 2 against the Chiefs.”I thought they played really good,” Spagnuolo said. “I thought that made a huge difference. And you know what? Ultimately, we didn’t want it to be 20 points. We really wanted it to be 13, a lot. Be 13 or less. One play kind of got us, but I thought the whole game, both those guys did a really good job. And I mean, the one play, Trent (McDuffie) just couldn’t find the ball, and that’s a tough one when you know the ball was thrown where it is, and the receiver can seize it a little bit sooner and adjust a little bit quicker. But had we found a way to get that ball on the ground, I would have felt really, really, really good about our chances to win, and then we were trying at the end there just to give Patrick (Mahomes) another chance at the ball. But that’s a good football team we played.” If it weren’t for the unfortunate 28-yard reception that McDuffie allowed to Smith, they would’ve held the pair to a combined eight receptions for 52 yards. The Chiefs have proven that they can hang with one of the top receiver units in the league, but taking away Nabers is going to be a tougher task. Trent McDuffie often travels with top receivers, but that might not be a good matchup for Nabers, who is “physically put together” as Spags says. That’s been McDuffie’s one weakness in coverage. Sometimes, he can be boxed out by the bigger, more physical brands of wide receivers. One bold option for Kansas City would be to allow rookie CB Nohl Williams to take Nabers after the performance he had against the Eagles. Williams didn’t play a lot in Week 2, but when he was on the field, he looked like one of the best corners on the team. He was targeted in coverage three times in Week 2 and allowed just one reception for one yard on the day.