It isn’t every day a football coach, especially an interim one, gets called “CRAZY” by the President of the United States. That is what happened to Mike Kafka of the New York Giants on Sunday when he made a hotly-debated fourth-down decision late in an overtime loss to the Detroit Lions.
Asked about being harpooned by the President, Kafka didn’t seem to mind the second-guess. Rather, he seemed to enjoy the attention.
“This is one of the coolest things that, I mean just for me, being in this position, you get the opportunity to make tough calls. For me, that’s awesome. I love it,” Kafka said. “You get it down the wire, two-minute, end of game, when you got to make a tough call, that’s where, to me, I feel like that’s a huge responsibility and something I enjoy doing, I like being that point person to do that.
“So, everyone’s going to have an opinion. That’s okay. That’s okay. I’m going to do the best I can for myself, for the team first, to give us an opportunity to win the game. And whatever that call, whoever it was, a player, a coach, my aunt and uncle, my dad, like I heard it from everybody. And that’s okay. They can have their opinions, and I respect that. But I’m going to do what’s best for the team, try to do what’s best for the team.”
Kafka wants an aggressive “let’s go win it” mentality.
“Whether it’s winning the game on the last play of the game, being aggressive, going for two if we get an opportunity, whatever that situation is, that’s where we got to thrive and that’s where we got to turn the table in terms of our team is when it’s nut cutting time, when it’s time down at the end of the game, when we got to make a play, we’re going to be aggressive to go make the play to win it,” Kafka said. “And I want our guys thinking that way. I don’t want our guys thinking like, hey, we shouldn’t do this or do that. Like, let’s go win it. And that’s going to be our mentality.
“So when we get down there, that’s really how we’re prepping. That’s how we’re practicing. And that’s how we’re talking with the players. That’s a language that we’re using across really the organization and across the team.”
Kafka downplays Malik Nabers’ criticism
President Trump wasn’t the only high-profile person to criticize Kafka’s end-of-game decision-making on Sunday. Giants star wide receiver Malik Nabers, on IR with a torn ACL, tweeted and quickly deleted comments wondering if the Giants were actually trying to lose the game.
“I didn’t see the tweet,” said Kafka, adding he has not spoken to Nabers about it.
“I didn’t see what he said, so I don’t necessarily have a comment on it, but I just, I think players can obviously respond any way they want to anything they want,” Kafka said. “But if it’s something that’s detrimental to the team, we’ll address it in-house and talk through it and move on.”
Kafka did also reveal that Nabers is back with the team as he continues to rehab from his knee surgery. He had spent the first few weeks rehabbing in Dallas.
What is the plan for Jaxson Dart?
Somewhat like last week, the Giants are in limbo at quarterback. Jaxson Dart is practicing, and he was a full participant on Wednesday, but still has not cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol. Kafka said both Dart and Jameis Winston will get reps until the Giants get clarity from the independent neurologist on whether or not Dart will be cleared to play.
Kafka was clear that Dart will play against the New England Patriots on Monday if he is cleared in time.
“If he’s ready to play, like just any player, if they’re ready to play, then we have a plan for him, then we’ll put him in,” Kafka said.
“He saw the doctors the doctors that he needed to see last week, and he’ll see the doctors that he needs to see this week and just continue to keep on progressing through.”
See More:
