Giants IHC Mike Kafka Dives into Detail About Progression vs. Coverage Reads

It started when Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins was asked this week about using pre-snap motion to determine which coverage a defense is in. Cousins delivered a two-plus-minute, detailed response.

On Friday, the same question was put to New York Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka, specifically about how the Giants have been working with their quarterbacks to teach it, particularly rookie Jaxson Dart.

“It really comes down to how you want to get the quarterback through his progression, tie it in with his feet,” Kafka, a former NFL quarterback himself, said on Friday.

“You're looking at how it all matches up, so the route depth, the timing of the quarterback's feet, the protection, all that stuff's tied into it.”

The evolution of the game, Kafka said, has shifted the focus on what the quarterback needs to look at.

“When you're looking at the quarterback position, before it was one high, two high reads. Then it evolves to like these pure progression reads, then it's been cut the field, move the pocket, now you're just looking at one high kind of just like one side of the field and cutting the defense completely off,” he said.

“I don't think there's one way (to teach it). I certainly think we have both. We have one-high, two-high ways. We have plays where we pure progress all the way across the field.

“We have plays where it's just, ‘Hey, it's one-on-one matchups outside, pick your best matchup. … You think about them first, how they're seeing this play, and then you try to build it around that person.”

Dec 14, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) reacts during the first quarter against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Kafka smiled when asked how often a quarterback these days can tell what a defense is planning to run pre-snap.

“I would say, there are clues. You can dig for them and find them, right? You can anticipate,” he said.

“I don't think you'll ever know 100% for sure till the snap is made. Then you can achieve a high verification rate. Then right at the snap, then you know, right, obviously. But teams are doing a great job, defenses are doing a great job of disguising one-high, two-high shells, presenting cover zero, popping out, showing coverage, and playing cover zero.

“That certainly is giving offenses; it could be a challenge, right? I think the more you talk with the quarterbacks, the more you talk with the offensive skill group, and giving them indicators on leverages, inside leverage, outside leverage, those are clues that you can kind of pick apart when you're in a meeting.”

Dec 14, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) talks with interim head coach Mike Kafka during the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Luckily for the Giants, in Dart they have a quarterback who is a “high-level processor post-snap,” which makes things easier.

“He sees a lot of things, things that he'll come off the sideline, maybe my eyes were on one side of the field, his eyes are kind of scanning through it, and he sees the backside hook defender, and he comes off the field, ‘Hey, why did you, where'd you get your eyes there? I saw this guy bail.’" Kafka said.

“He just has such great space focus in his ability to play, and so that opens up a lot of things in terms of an offense when your quarterback’s not just kind of seeing it through a straw. He has a big vision of the field, and that's a good asset to have in terms of playing quarterback.”

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