EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants standout wide receiver Malik Nabers was "feeling good" after returning in Sunday night's season opener against the Dallas Cowboys from a torn ACL last season.
Nabers caught six passes on nine targets for 69 yards in the Giants' 28-20 win, his first game action since last September.
It wasn't until just under two hours before the game that Nabers knew he would play. He was listed as questionable despite being a full participant in practice throughout the week.
"I had to feel that I wanted to play. I had to feel it," Nabers said afterward. "Everyone wanted to see me. I was at practice. I never got the game feeling. I had to feel it. I had to feel like my body was able to. I had to feel the energy. I had to feel the game-day moment. That was really it."
Nabers went out on the field about two hours before kickoff Sunday with rehabilitation and return-to-play coordinator Allison Boudreau. He stretched and ran through some drills before making his final decision and giving a thumbs-up.
Quarterback Jaxson Dart said Nabers gave him a nod on the field as he went to run routes and assumed that meant he was going to play. Coach John Harbaugh had jokingly tackled Nabers during the team's walkthrough earlier in the day, perhaps to knock off the final obstacle to him playing.
Dart noted after the game how important it was to have Nabers on the field. The receiver demands attention from the opposition.
"It was great. He's just a guy where, no matter what the coverage is, no matter who they put out there on him, you have all the confidence in the world that he's going to make a play," Dart said. "And I think that we were all not 100% sure what was going to happen. So, I was just super stoked. I think that once he was able to feel those lights and feel the game-day environment, maybe he had a little bit of adrenaline, and then he's just a guy who wants to play for this team, loves the game.
"And I'm so happy that he was able to come back and have a game like this where he was just able to play really, really efficient and good football."
Nabers made it clear that the team was leaving the final decision up to him, and he wanted to make sure he was able to handle a full workload.
Nabers was on the field for 36 out of 68 offensive plays. Only 11 of those were called runs.
"I'm feeling good right now. We'll see how the adrenaline wears off, see where we're at," Nabers said. "I'll get back to the treatments, get back to still moving forward. The recovery process is not done. Still have to do great work, still have to prepare for next week, and prepare for practice. So, we'll see how we're feeling."
The Giants have an extra day to work with this week. They play on the road against the Los Angeles Rams next Monday night.