Despite Loss, Mike Kafka Had a Promising Giants Head Coaching Debut

Kafka showed promise as first in command of the Giants' sideline.

Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

No, the New York Giants’ 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers wasn’t what anyone hoped it would be.

But the overall job done by interim head coach Mike Kafka in his first outing since being promoted earlier this week was encouraging.

It started with the opening coin toss in which the Giants, upon winning the coin toss, elected to receive rather than defer. Kafka, in doing so, put his money where his mouth is when he says he has confidence in all his players, and he was promptly rewarded. 

Quarterback Jameis Winston drove the Giants nine plays and 65 yards to the first score of the game, capped by a 5-yard touchdown run by Devin Singletary, the first of his two scores on the day. 

Although the Giants would lose the lead in the second quarter, they battled back to a 20-19 lead, which they held until 4:02 in the fourth quarter, when Packers receiver Christian Watson caught a 17-yard touchdown pass and the Packers converted the 2-point conversion.

Still, a look at how Kafka ran the show was very encouraging. Here are some thoughts from his NFL head coaching debut. Here’s a look at some other things he did that deserve kudos.

Holding Abdul Carter Accountable

In his first press briefing as head coach last Wednesday, Kafka spoke of holding people accountable. And that’s precisely what he did with rookie outside linebacker Abdul Carter, who was benched for the first series as punishment for having committed a rules infraction that he later said was detrimental to the team.

Kafka, remember, made this move despite being without Kayvon Thibodeaux to prove a point. And it appeared that he made his point to the rookie.

“I already know whatever I do, gonna have consequences,” Carter said after the game. “So that was a consequence I had to live with.”

Considering Kafka has a small window in which to make a big impression, that he would take such a step to drive him to the point that he’s not playing around is a feather in his cap.

Hinting at Change? 

Kafka, as already mentioned, has a tiny window to impress not just his Giants bosses but also the decision-makers around the league who might be looking for a new head coach.

So it’s probably not a stretch to say that Kafka is going to leave nothing to chance.

That includes the fate of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who, after having his unit blow yet another late-game lead–the fifth this season–is likely on his way out.

Yes, the defense remains banged up, and it didn’t help that cornerback Paulson Adebo was a last-minute scratch after experiencing soreness in his knee during pre-game warmups. 

But numerous things left one at a loss regarding Bowen’s latest game plan. For one, the run defense continues to be an issue, with absolutely zero progress made in fixing it. 

Were it not for the fact that Josh Jacobs left the game early with an injury, it’s fair to wonder if the Packers might have had way more than the 128 rushing yards on 23 carries (5.6 avg.) they racked up.

Then there was a matter of personnel selection. Why, for example, have Nic Jones and Korie Black in the game during a fourth-quarter critical point and leave Dru Phillips and Deonte Banks on the bench? 

Granted, Banks has been madly inconsistent and Phillips has had some penalty issues, but wouldn’t it stand to reason that a coach would want his best players on the field when it’s crunch time?

And why, during the Packers' 2-point conversion, did the defense only rush three? It wasn’t as though they needed to drop extra men into coverage at that point to guard a lot of territory. The Packers had zero issues converting, leaving the Giants to feel that all-too-familiar feeling of frustration again.

“Our defense is battling, playing their butts off.  At the end of it, we've got to make a couple more plays,” Kafka said. 

“But I really, really like how we approached it today. Aggressive mentality across the board. There were some one-on-one opportunities on the back end and the front end that we got to make. I'm going to continue to challenge those guys to do that in practice, and then it will eventually turn over for us.”

The bottom line with the defense is that it hasn’t shown much in the way of creativity all year long, and that’s been an enormous problem. And it’s hard to fathom Kafka allowing this to continue, given what’s at stake.  

Kafka’s Stones

How about Kafka opting to go for it on fourth down four times in this game, including three on one drive and on instances where had they not made it, the Packers would have taken over in excellent field position?

“We want to be aggressive,” Kafka said. “That's, to me, as a former player, being around a lot of good play callers, head coaches, like you want to have an aggressive mentality on offense and defense, special teams. So that's really the messaging throughout.

“I want that to be a stamp of what our team's about.”

Not only was he aggressive, but he was also creative. In the third quarter on 4th-and-1 with the ball in his own territory, Kafka called for a direct snap to Devin Singletary, who picked up two yards. It was a smart, creative play that gave the Giants just the slightest of a head start, and they executed well.  

Having a Personnel Plan

New York Giants defensive tackle Elijah Chatman | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Kudos to Kafka not only for knowing what he wanted but for putting it into motion.

The Giants elevated defensive lineman Elijah Chatman and receiver Dalen Cambre to the practice squad. Rather than have them sit around twiddling their thumbs, they not only got game snaps, but also contributed.

Chatman got some defensive line rotation snaps, but was also deployed as a blocker on offense in short-yardage situations, calling on his prior college experience at fullback. 

Cambre, meanwhile, saw most of his snaps on special teams, where he posted one tackle and one assisted tackle.

That was a far cry from what the team had done the last two weeks in elevating receiver Ray-Ray McCloud, only to have him mostly be a decoy despite getting a ton of snaps.

Hodgins Impact

New York Giants wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins | Lucas Boland-Imagn Images

Further kudos to whoever made the decision–we suspect it might have been Kafka who pushed for it–to bring back receiver Isaiah Hodgins, a move that should have been made weeks ago and certainly ahead of McCloud.

Hodgins finished as the team’s receiving leader in both receptions (5) and receiving yardage (57). That’s how you optimize talent and give yourself a chance to win.  

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