Things got testy on the New York Giants’ sidelines when they fell at the hands of the Washington Commanders.

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and his star wide receiver Malik Nabers got into a couple of noticeable spats throughout the game.

There were times where the two got into visible shouting matches with each other. And once, after a time out, Daboll was trying to motivate Nabers and offer him a high-five, only for Nabers to leave him hanging.

We always see situations where a player goes out for a high-five and the other party is unaware of the high-five (hello Josh Hart), but this looked deliberate.

When asked about the conversation after the game, Nabers seemed to downplay it, labeling it as both two competitors going at it and him trying to get the team energized.

"I said I was going to speak up when it was time for me to speak up, try to get guys going. I felt like we were lacking out there, the energy wasn't right. I took it upon myself to try to boost people up… it’s two competitive people going at it. He wants to win, I want to win."

Daboll seemed to echo Nabers’ sentiments:

"Leek and I are two highly competitive people. We want to get him the ball, that's all it is."

But since we’re in the media business, it’s our duty to analyze and read in between the lines.

It almost seemed like Daboll was at a loss for words, trying to be as careful as possible not to say the wrong thing. The New York media will take post game comments and run with it until the cows come home, and the last thing Daboll needs is a distraction one game into the season.

It’s just when you say you want to get Nabers the ball, and he gets 12 targets, but still looks frustrated, that’s a bit unsettling.

If it was a one time thing, you can look past it. 

However, last season after a loss to the Buccaneers, Nabers didn’t hold back as a rookie and seemingly threw shade at the coaching staff. 

"It ain't the quarterback. Same outcome when we had [Daniel Jones] at quarterback. Take a look. Take a look. It ain't the quarterback. I don't know, I don't know what it is. Everybody knows better than me." 

Daboll has had a history of clashing with players – most notably his former quarterback in the aforementioned Jones, who Giants fans surely saw what he did in his first start with the Indianapolis Colts.

Now, they have a potential Hall of Famer in Russell Wilson taking snaps, and yet the Giants still couldn’t find the endzone.

Jones was the constant punching bag while he assumed quarterback with the G-Men, and was caught in the crossfires with Daboll plenty of times during Daboll’s four year tenure as the head honcho in East Rutherford.

At some point, General Manager Joe Schoen and owner John Mara need to take a step back and fully understand what’s really the cause of the lack of success from Big Blue.