Mike Kafka on Jaxson Dart: “He’s right on schedule” | New York Giants

Mike Kafka on Jaxson Dart: “He’s right on schedule” | New York Giants

Mike, as a as a play caller, when you um you know, start a new um relationship with a veteran quarterback like Russ, you know, is it is it um is it different than if you a young guy or rookie or something like that? I mean, he’s been there, done that with so many other guys, not with you. Is it very natural to do that with him right away? Yeah, just opening up that that um the open lines of communication, having dialogue on plays that he likes, things that I like, things that are within the offense already. Maybe there’s some crossover, maybe there’s some new thoughts. So, it’s just about kind of opening those lines of communication. And what about he has a he has in his career has had a lot of leeway to change things at the line and things like that. So, where are you going to be with him on that? When you call something, I mean, he can obviously change it, but you don’t want him to change everything all the time. Yeah. I think it just goes back to just being great with the communication, making sure everyone’s on the same page, you know, having a plan for how we want to attack a certain look and um having, you know, the appropriate tools to use that, whether that’s at the line of scrimmage, whether it’s built into the play call, whether it’s adjusted at the line of scrimmage just by leverage or coverage look. So, there’s a lot of different ways to get to that. And, you know, certainly the quarterbacks have the keys to the car in terms of being able to operate that way. Malik has had a lot of flash plays this this summer. I’m just curious what you’re seeing in him year two here and and what your Yeah, Malik Malik has a growth mindset. He’s continuing to grow and learn and get better and master his craft. Um whether it’s, you know, as an outside receiver, as a slot receiver, um in the run game, I think he’s just taken a really concerted effort of of of being really detailed with those things. And you know, I think you’re seeing it with the splash plays and the ability that he has, but I think it’s there’s other elements to it. It’s, you know, running off on a screen and collecting two DBs down the, you know, down the field. Now, those guys are out of the play. It’s just those little details that maybe don’t show up on the stat sheet. That to me, I’m probably most proud of for him. Coach, what have you seen so far from Evan Nil this camp and and how does his movement side kind of create more advantages for you as a play caller? Yeah, Evan’s doing a really nice job. I mean, it’s not, you know, not necessarily easy to go from outside and move inside. Evan’s doing it from a communication standpoint. You know, you got to be dialed into the calls. Um, you got to be dialed in double teams a little bit more. Um, you know, if we’re going silent cadence, like all those things are kind of that they get they get added on. So, he’s done a really nice job. I’m proud of him. And, um, you know, I think we still got some more days in camp and some more work there, but he’s doing a great job with the work he’s he’s done. as we as we go to this next phase where you’re facing other defenses and teams, what’s Jackson what are you looking for from Jackson, I guess, as as he’s on assuming he’s going to be on the field. Yeah, just, you know, like any like any position, you know, just operating within the the confines of the offense and uh going out there and playing confidently um being decisive, you know, commanding the huddle and I think for a Jackson, for a young player, I know from my experience, you know, was getting young guys who’ve probably never played as well. out there and, you know, calming them down and having great poise and great confidence and and then just going playing football. It’s a game you love and you know, you’ve been playing it for a long time. So, you know, my biggest piece of advice would just go out there, enjoy it, play, have fun, and and uh and go be aggressive. Are you going to look at the production, the stats, or are you just going to look sort of holistically at how he’s functioning? Yeah, we’ll we’ll evaluate everybody and everything. It’s 11 on offense, it’s 11man operation, so everyone’s got to be, you know, rolling on all cylinders for it to function. And so, you know, it’s never just about one guy. So, yeah, we’re going to evaluate everybody, whether it’s the quarterbacks, the the running backs, the receivers. What are you seeing from the veterans in those rooms that are helping lead along, develop, continue to grow, all the young guys on the roster who you really think you can tap into and get a lot from this season? Yeah, that’s been that’s been the tremendous part about this season thus far in in the training camp and the OTAAS is, you know, these these veteran guys have really stepped up into that role. Now, it’s, you know, it’s year four in the offense. they kind of know the ins and the outs. They can um they can go through and help with the younger players, help them with their learning tools, help them with their fundamentals, with their techniques, and now kind of take that to the next level. And you’re seeing guys like Slay, guys like Motor, Tracy, um you know, Manhertz, Bell, Bellinger, um JMS, you know, at I all I can GVR, I can go down the list of all the veterans of Germaine. I mean, all the guys that really have taken young players under their wing and shown them the ropes and it’s been cool to see. Mike Tyrone, Tracy, you just referenced him a little bit there was a bit of a re revelation last year for a lot of people. I’m curious what you’re seeing in him here this year and and what’s next for him. What’s the next Yeah, I just think you’re seeing from my perspective just a motivated player. You know, he wants to continue to get better. Um, you know, I don’t think he was necessarily satisfied with what happened last year, and I think he wants more, and I think he um is is working to to be a more dynamic player on in the run game, in the pass game, as a blocker, just fine-tune all those details and really become a complete back. Mike, how um how are you different as a play caller now than you were when you came here when it was your first time as a play caller? I think as a coach, every year you got to you got to learn and grow, whether it’s from past experiences, from other guys around the league. And so, you know, you just keep continuing to dive in into into that and see, you know, what is what’s in your comfort level. Um, how you can be more aggressive in certain situations, how you can look at different situations throughout the game on how certain teams attacked it. You know, maybe they had a different thought process going into it. So, it’s about reaching out to other coaches and getting that perspective and getting their feel and then understanding who you are as a as a person, understanding what your team is, uh, how they’re constructed, and what their strengths are as well. Coach, everyone everyone has in separate instances has spoken about the vibe as being different here at camp. Have you seen that and how has that manifested itself to the type of camp everyone’s having? I think it’s been a really competitive camp. I like the mindset our guys have approached each day. Um, no different than today. We got to have a great day today and capitalize on the opportunity. You just get such limited opportunities throughout OTAAS and training camp. So, you just got to make make the most of them, right? And each play um each play is a learning experience. understanding that, okay, if I made a good play, great. Like, you can take that to the bank and and and and build off it. Or if I made a mistake, how can I learn from that to not make it happen again? And so, I think that’s just, you know, whether it’s a veteran guy, whether it’s a young player, getting them to understand that these opportunities are valuable, but you can, if you do have a mistake or do have a correction, you can learn from it and get and grow from it. Where is I guess you had two weeks of camp with him. I’d say Jackson is right on schedule from what we’d expect. um in terms of just understanding the offense, continuing to grow and learn every day. I mean, every day we’re we’re presenting them with and not just him, but all the quarterbacks with different situations and um you know, some some situations you probably never seen before. So, those have been good to build off of whether it’s in the two-minute, whether it’s a third down situation or a certain blitz look that we’re getting. You know, he’s able to kind of grow and and learn from those those uh those those examples. and and now he can, you know, as he starts banking more and more looks, more and more reps, and we do a lot of this throughout the walk through as well, he can kind of see can now he’s starting to put the put the picture together a little bit better and cleaner for a rookie. Mike Air is a guy who got here late last year, probably, you know, had a lot of catch up to do with the offensive playbook and and didn’t get a lot of opportunities. So, now that he’s in his second year, what are you seeing from him as a receiver? Yeah, Amir’s Amir is um just a pleasure to be around in terms of the person. great energy every single day. Obviously, you see what he can do on the special teams side of it. On the offensive side, you know, I think having that that limited exposure last year and now having a full off seasonason, I think it’s starting to make sense for him a little bit more. And again, we’re putting him in different spots, not just playing the slot. He could be outside. So, just kind of building off of what he had last year and now getting more comfortable in the offense uh this this offseason. Mike, take a few more. Your um in your um you know, background, you know, watching people call plays and calling them yourself. Um, how much can a quarterback, you know, with Andy, I’m sure you’ve seen it, you know, plays just okay, quarterback elevates it. The play is a good call, quarterback really elevates it. How much can a quarterback save a play caller? Sometimes it’s a player’s game. You know, it’s it’s always been it’s a player’s game. And whether it’s the quarterback position or the running back or the offensive line or the skill guys, those guys make make the play come to life. And so, you know, I think when you look at a lot of the teams across the league, you know, there’s a lot of creative schemes out there, but you got to put the the players in the position to be successful. And then again, I think the players kind of take it to the next level. Mike, does stretching the defense horizontally with misdirection help an offense get vertical? Like, is that a conscious thing about how you call plays? And where where does that come from? Yeah, I I that’s a that’s a good that’s a good question. I’d say that um you know when you’re building when you’re constructing an offense just in general you want to you want to force the defense to defend the whole entire width width and depth of the field. So there could be different elements of the run game that can attack it. It could be different elements of the pass game screens motions um vertical levels type plays that can that can get that accomplished. So you’re looking at not only the space the spots on the field you’re looking at the people that are in those spots. Maybe we want to attack a linebacker or a certain flat defender, but you want to attack a certain safety’s leverage. And how do you get that done based off of a certain action that may get that to influence that that particular player? So, you know, you’re thinking of the space, you’re thinking of putting stress on certain players, flat defenders, high lows on backers, the width and depth of safeties, and then you start putting the people in those spots to do that with their strengths. So, it could be a speed receiver, could be a bigger body on a matchup on a smaller body on defense. Um, you know, could be quick motions and expanding the width to put that that that player in different stresses in terms of a run fit or a pass fit. So, that that’s what we look at, you know, and so we we try to do that and put the guys in the right spot and get looks at it and if it doesn’t work out, we kind of reformulate it and then talk about it as a staff and then get a better solution. Last one. Um, is it a conscious effort of you as a play caller to set up plays for later, like out of the same look, running the same look but a different play? Is that always conscious? It seems like you it seems like you do that a lot, but I could be wrong. Yeah. No, there is there is a conscious effort to do that on certain things. Um, I wouldn’t say it needs to necessarily doesn’t have to necessarily be a one for one type situation where it’s has to marry this exact look, but I think it just goes back to like who are you putting in conflict and how do you do that within, you know, certain couple plays that you want to package together. Does this guy have the same fit in this run or this pass or this formation? And then how do you marry those things up and maybe put him in conflict a couple different ways?

Assistant Head Coach/ Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka speaks to the media before practice Wednesday at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Presented by Ford.

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