If you were hoping that New York Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka would fire defensive coordinator Shane Bowen on Monday, you are no doubt disappointed that Kafka said no staff changes are forthcoming.
“Status quo,” Kafka said. “I don’t anticipate any. As a matter of fact, we’re going to go and attack this week. I’m excited for this week of prep. The coaches are excited about it. We just watched the tape with some good, fresh ideas, so this will be a couple of good work days here.
“When we get the players in tomorrow, we’ll set that plan in motion.”
The Giants on Sunday blew a fourth-quarter lead for the third time this season and second week in a row. Bowen has been under fire since Week 2 when the Giants blew a late lead against the Dallas Cowboys, heat that intensified when they blew a 19-0 fourth-quarter lead against the Denver Broncos in Week 7.
Here are more takeaways from Kafka’s Monday morning Zoom call with New York media.
Game-ending interception
Kafka said Sunday night that he wanted to watch the film before commenting on the late-game interception where wide receiver Jalin Hyatt appeared to cut off his route in the end zone, leading to Evan Williams of Green Bay picking off a Jameis Winston pass.
What did Kafka see when he re-watched this play?
“It was a flag route right there. I think there was a little bit of miscommunication there,” Kafka said. I know Jalin’s feeling hurt after the game just about the result of that. You never want to see the game end like that for us. But our guys battled, man. Our guys battled.“
Kafka would not blame Hyatt.
“It’s never just one play. It’s never just one person,” he said. “It’s a team game. It’s all of us coming together, all of us making those adjustments. Then when we get those opportunities, we’ve got to go make them. Right in front of us, we’ve got to go nail it.
“But it’s not about one person, and it’s not about one play for us. It’s about a whole group. There’s a lot of plays throughout an NFL game, and there’s plenty of things that we could have done better, myself included.”
Paulson Adebo injury update
Adebo was expected to return to the lineup on Sunday, but the cornerback reported discomfort in his injured knee during pre-game warmups and sat out. That was his fourth straight missed game.
“He went through the pregame routine and was talking with the doctors about it and just didn’t feel good enough for it, so the doctors recommended that he didn’t go,” Kafka said. “I’ve got full trust in those guys and their opinions on the player. Obviously, player health is super important to me, so I want to make sure Adebo is ready to rock and roll and that he’s healthy and that when he’s out there, he can go after it.”
Could Adebo be ready this week against the Detroit Lions, or has he been set back for longer?
“I’m not sure of the severity of it” Kafka said. “We’ll talk again and have a meeting with the medical and see where it’s at and kind of what the decision was and what happened there. But I’ve got full trust in those guys and I know Adebo, he’s itching to get out.
How did Evan Neal hurt a hammy?
How did Neal, who did not play a snap this season, suffer a hamstring injury last week that landed him on injured reserve and might have ended his Giants’ career?
“Evan got hurt doing a workout,” Kafka said. “The docs made a decision to do the move to IR.”
So, there you have it.
‘Fine line’ with Jaxson Dart
Kafka was grilled about Dart’s running style and the effort to teach the rookie quarterback to protect himself whenever possible. Dart, of course, missed Sunday’s game with a concussion suffered while he was carrying the ball.
“I just think, you’re playing a game of football, you’re playing an aggressive game to begin with. That’s a violent game. I think Jaxson’s aggressiveness – the last thing I want him out there is playing timid or afraid of getting injured. You want him to go play as hard as he possibly can,” Kafka said. “Now, there are going to be opportunities for him to go ahead and get down and I trust that he’s going to make the smart choice. There are going to be opportunities where he’s got to go get a first down and I trust that he’s going to go make the right choice. Again, with a player like this, you don’t want to put him in a box and you don’t want to put a bunch of parameters on him. You want him to go play free, play confidently and play the game that he’s been playing his entire life.
“I think that’s the fine line. I think Jaxson, going through the whole draft process with him and understanding what kind of player he is, he’s an aggressive player and that’s what we love about him. But obviously, you want to show him some examples that he can learn from. I think he’s going through that now and I think he’ll continue to grow from those things. But at the end of the day, he is a competitor and that’s why we love this guy. I think he’ll continue to learn and grow but you don’t want to put a player like that in a box. Obviously, you want to show him the examples that he can improve on and I think he’ll take that to the bank.”
‘It’s a team game’
Kafka was asked about the frustration of not being able to put together a game where the offense, defense and special teams all played well at the same time.
“It’s a team game,” Kafka said. “I think, what I’ve liked, what our players have done is they’ve stepped up and we’ve continued to fight, continued to battle and we’re going to continue to do that in practice. We’re going to continue to put our guys in competitive situations to where we can finish those things at the end of the game. So, when we’re structuring practice, how do I put those guys in more situations where maybe it’s some more two-minute drill, maybe it’s some competitive drills, maybe it’s some drill work that we can do with each unit that puts them in those situations where they’ve got to make a contested catch or a contested pass deflection. It’s the drill work, it’s emphasizing it and I think and I know when our guys are put in those situations they’ll make the play when it comes their way again.
“There’s a lot to build off of really across the board, across the whole team and that’s what I’m really excited about. Our coaches, talking with them this morning about how our guys played, there’s a lot to build off of.”
Schedule change
Beginning Monday, Kafka has changed the players’ weekly schedule. The Giants will be off on Mondays, with players reporting back for work on Tuesday. Under Daboll, players worked the day after games and had Tuesdays off.
“I think it gives the coaches a little bit of front-end time in terms of getting prepped. Then they see them tomorrow. It kind of takes the emotion out of the game, allows guys to kind of evaluate it and see it with clear eyes, and allows the coaches to do the same,” Kafka said. “Then it gives us an opportunity to then flip the page and move on to the next opponent. Just a little bit different routine, different schedule that I’ve had in the past. I just thought it was a good fit.”
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