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Brian Daboll Hasn't Lost Confidence in Mike Kafka, Giants Offense

Head coach Brian Daboll says nothing has changed with the Giants' offense despite its growing reliance on a more conservative approach.
Patricia Traina|
Brian Daboll Hasn't Lost Confidence in Mike Kafka, Giants Offense
Brian Daboll Hasn't Lost Confidence in Mike Kafka, Giants Offense

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New York Giants

Over their last four games, the New York Giants offense has averaged 349 yards per game, including gains of 413, 300, and 316 in those weeks where the opponents have figured out how to slow down the rushing attack as led by Saquon Barkley.

Yet over that same period, the Giants are 0-2-1, having averaged 19.3 points per game, the offense, at times, looking nothing like the aggressive and creative group that helped propel the team to a 6-2 record in the first eight games of the season.

Despite the dropoff, head coach Brian Daboll said on Monday that he's not planning to make any changes regarding the play-calling duties held by offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.

"No. I have a lot of confidence in Mike Kafka," Daboll said point-blank when asked.

The question regarding Kafka arose over what many people believe was a sequence of head-scratching and somewhat conservative play calls over the last few weeks in which the Giants offense has seemingly crawled into a shell.

The most recent example of that came in Sunday's 20-20 tie with the Washington Commanders on the last drive of the first half, a 13-play, 66-yard scoring drive in which the Giants settled for a 27-yard field goal by kicker Graham Gano which tied the score at 13-13.

On that drive, the Giants ran the ball eight times, and when they threw, they kept all the passes short, never once even attempting a deep shot at the end zone.

In particular, was the play call on 3rd-and-1 with the ball on the Comamnders' 11-yard line and 19 seconds left. After receiver Richie James came up one yard shy of the first down, the Giants, on 3rd-and-1, had Jones run to the right end, where he picked up two yards.

"Was it a first down or not?" Daboll said after the game when questioned about the decision. "We called the play that we thought might hit it. Obviously, didn’t get it and ended up with three points. Obviously, we want seven (points). But I thought Kafka handled that drive doing down the field good."

Daboll was asked Monday if that meant the team wasn't looking to take a shot at all for the touchdown in that situation, and he again defended the unfolding of the play, noting that Jones made a good decision in that situation.

"We had one, but we threw an underneath play because they took it away with the coverage that we got. We had (running back) Saquon (Barkley) down the sideline on a wheel route. Another seven route. But Daniel made a good decision on it."

Although the decision worked out for the Giants in that they came away with three points, from a bigger perspective was the fact that Daboll, who earlier in the year had shown a lot more aggressiveness with some of the decisions in tight spots, seems to have backed down from that approach. That has raised questions about whether his trust in the offensive players has been affected.

"I trust the offense and the supporting cast," Daboll said flatly.

So why not go for broke?

"I’d say each week is different, and we manage it the way we think we need to manage that game," Daboll said.

Daboll has always insisted that the coaches do what's in the team's best interest. Still, with the stakes rising, the sudden conservatism shown by the team has certainly caused an eyebrow or two to rise, not to mention cast some doubt about how the coaches feel about things moving forward.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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