Freddie Kitchens: Nothing Changes This Week
Despite unexpectedly being thrust into the spotlight this weekend due to offensive coordinator Jason Garrett’s positive COVID-19 test, New York Giants tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens, tabbed by head coach Joe Judge to fill in for Garrett, said nothing has changed.
Really.
“It truly has just been kind of what we normally do,” Kitchens said Friday. “Nothing will truly change until we get to Sunday. Jason is still in the Zoom meetings with us and things like that.
"Really, at the end of the day, on a weekly basis, our game planning for practice or the games, it’s really a group effort, which it should be. That’s continued. Nothing has really changed, except for Sunday.”
Sunday is when Kitchens will don the headset connected directly to the quarterback’s helmet radio and call in the plays determined by Garrett and the staff for any number of situations that may occur in the game.
“Nothing is changing with our offense,” Kitchens said when asked if he planned to add any wrinkles of his own. “Our offense is our offense, and we’re just going to try to execute on a consistent basis.”
Kitchens has said very little during his scheduled media sessions, and that didn't change given his temporary bump in responsibility. When he was asked to describe himself as a play-caller, he passed on the question and said, “I kind of just try to do the best I can for the team, for our staff, for our players, and try to the best of my ability to try to put players in position to make plays.”
But Judge was only too happy to share his thoughts about Kitchens as a play-caller.
“I think Freddie sees the game through a big picture perspective,” Judge said. “I’ve always respected how he’s able to look at a defense and understand their strengths and understand our players. I think it builds him into where he has been successful.
“He’s been in a lot of different systems. He brings a lot of different knowledge, more run heavy systems, more pass heavy systems,” Judge added.
“He’s worked under different coordinators and coaches. I think that’s something that builds into his overall knowledge of the game and how he sees it.”
