Hakeem Nicks felt like he needed to make amends after his horrible second quarter sure-to-be-a-touchdown drop. But he also knew he had to forget about it.
“You’ve got to have a short memory at the wide receiver position,” Nicks said, echoing what Tom Coughlin said earlier in the week about the cornerback position. “Dropped passes are going to come.”
For Nicks, a touchdown eventually came, too. Four plays after his terrible drop in the Giants’ 45-38 roller coaster of a loss, Nicks produced a 68-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. He finished with four catches for 110 yards and the TD, though he also dropped another pass.
Since he dropped passes but also flashed his big-play ability, how Nicks will remember his first night as the Giants’ new starting wideout is debatable. Nicks replaced Mario Manningham in the lineup, getting the nod in what was a critical game for the team. He said he found out early in the week that he’d be starting.
“I was [pretty excited], but I didn’t want to get overexcited,” he said. “I just wanted to remain calm and just play the game.”
In the second quarter, the Giants were down 14-3 and had a 3rd-and-11 on their own 16. Nicks ran a deep route and beat safety Quintin Mikell, emerging wide open down the left sideline. Eli Manning fired a perfect strike to Nicks, the ball arriving at around the 45-yard line and smacking Nicks in his hands.
And off his hands.
“Lack of concentration, man,” Nicks said. “Lack of concentration.”
Nicks dropped the sure 84-yard touchdown, but the drive continued because of an illegal contact penalty. Four plays later, the Giants had 3rd-and-4 from their own 32.
“I knew I had to make up for it,” Nicks said. “I had that one drop. But I had to make up for it.”
This time, Manning hit Nicks with a short pass, after which Nicks broke Asante Samuel’s tackle, spun around Mikell and outsprinted Tracy White and Joselio Hanson for a 68-yard TD that made it a 14-10 game.
The 6-foot-1, 212-pound Nicks has had a strong rookie season, with 38 catches for 685 yards and six touchdowns in 11 games. If you pro-rate that over 16 games, Nicks is on a 55-catch, 996-yard, 8-TD pace.
Impressive, as Nicks was again last night — just not the whole time.