Darius Slayton steps up to fill Giants’ Malik Nabers void: ‘Very dependable’

SEATTLE — Malik Nabers was back east nursing his concussion.

Darius Slayton to the rescue.

“We moved Slayton over where Nabers was a bunch, and he was on the other side usually,” head coach Brian Daboll said after Giants 29, Seahawks 20. “He’s very dependable, and he’s smart. He’s a great teammate. He’s always done whatever we’ve asked of him.”

Slayton (8-112-1 TD) was much like the entire Giants team on this day: He never flinched.

“It’s basically just like opposite for me, so like where I’m used to going, I’m going the other way,” Slayton said. “So just trying to do my best to remember that. I definitely went the wrong way a time or two (laugh), but I was able to do decent today.”

Slayton caught a 41-yard deep ball down the right sideline from Daniel Jones but drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for what the zebras perceived as a gun salute but he insisted was a first down signal.

Daboll said that Slayton was regretful and remorseful about it.

“You know what’s funny is, when I got up, I know that if you’re close to the guy, like that’s when you get ’em,” Slayton said. “I purposely made sure there was nobody near me, so I wasn’t pointing at anybody; I was just pointing into nothing. No more points for me. If I do points, it’ll be like this — just one finger.”

Slayton caught a go-ahead 30-yard TD pass as the second option soon after and pointed to the crowd. No flag.

“I guess that was more of a single finger; maybe that’s why not,” he said. “I guess one finger from here on out.”

Jones gushed about his 2019 draft classmate: “Slay stepped up, had a big-time game today.”