Giants Interim Head Coach Mike Kafka is Ready to Seize the Opportunity Before Him

Mike Kafka has long wanted the opportunity to become an NFL head coach.

Now he has it after being named interim head coach of the New York Giants. While he would have preferred it not have come about at the expense of ex-head coach Brian Daboll, who was dismissed on Monday, Kafka is looking to potentially have the “interim” label removed from his title and prove that the job isn’t too big for him.

“I'm excited to lead this group,” Kafka said in his first media briefing as the interim head coach. “Focusing each day, taking kind of just one step at a time with the players and the coaches and getting organized. But I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge.”

It’s not going to be easy–it never is. Kafka is dealing with a banged-up team, which will be without rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, who is in the concussion protocol and will not play Sunday.

He’s also going to retain the Herculean task of calling plays on offense, despite having additional responsibilities like deciding when to call time-outs, challenge plays, and other in-game decisions that head coaches typically make.

His days are also busier with more meetings in which his focus is to build up the best possible scenarios for every player on the roster, both on and off the field, and for that, he’s reached out to past mentors as well as experts to gather the most complete information that achieves the goals.

Receiver Darius Slayton, one of the longest-tenured Giants on the roster and someone who has worked with Kafka daily from the coach’s previous role as offensive coordinator, thinks the 38-year-old coach will be just fine.

“I think he's done a great job of leading us as an offense,” Slayton said. “Obviously, he gets to kind of expand his role into leading the entire team with defense and special teams, so I think he's ready for it.

“He does a great job of standing in front of the guys and kind of giving the charge and giving direction over the past couple of days, and obviously we know he's a good play caller, so I think he'll do a good job.”

Slayton said that Kafka came into work with a different sort of air about him that has rubbed off on players in a positive way.

“I feel like he was energized today. He came in, you could tell he had a positive mindset, an opportunistic mindset,” he said.

While the defensive players are just getting to know Kafka as a coach, Slayton believes Kafka’s energy will be well-received.

“I think in a football setting, whether that be in a meeting or on the sideline, I definitely think he has some fire and passion in him,” he said.

“But at the same time, he's probably naturally a little bit more of a calmer personality, so to speak. But that can be helpful, especially in a high-pressure game like we're in, week in and week out, that calmer presence can definitely be beneficial.”

At the end of the day, Kafka aims to stack one good day on top of another to achieve the team’s goals of finishing a lost season strong and showing that he is indeed cut out for the pressure-cooker environment that comes with being an NFL head coach.

“I think the best head coaches I've been around are guys that are confident, poised, have a direction, have a plan, and then go execute the plan,” he said in response to a question about what makes for a good head coach.

“If something goes just a little bit differently, then you go back and you adjust. You have the flexibility to adjust. Accountability, holding guys accountable to the highest standard. If it's not right, fix it; don't wait and let things just kind of trickle and snowball.

“Those are things that I've learned over my past that I think are great qualities in a head coach and things that I try to mirror.”

What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.

More New York Giants Coverage