Big Blue View
Brian Daboll was fired by the New York Giants Monday afternoon, with offensive coordinator and assistant head coach Mike Kafka taking over for the remainder of the season.
It took four years, but Kafka finally got his head-coaching opportunity. It might not have happened the way he would have preferred, but Kafka now has the chance to show the NFL world what he can do. The Giants have plenty of work to do and don’t really have much in the way of post-season prospects. However, this is the best possible job interview that Kafka could hope for. He’s been a finalist for several head-coaching vacancies since becoming the Giants’ offensive coordinator.
Now he has the opportunity to not just tell his prospective employers how he would run a team, but rather show them how he would do it.
So let’s look at some other changes Kafka could make as the Giants’ interim head coach.
This is, frankly, the first and last order of business for Kafka. That doesn’t mean he should bench Dart and put him in bubble wrap until the games matter again. He shouldn’t even treat him like a fragile baby deer on the field, either.
Dart is an incredible competitor. He refuses to give up on a play and is willing to run through hellfire if it means helping his team win. Brian Daboll has always featured quarterback power as an aspect of his run game, starting with Josh Allen and continuing with Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor, and Tommy DeVito.
Kafka’s first change should be to limit the use of Dart in the running game, and scheme to be as judicious as possible when they do use him as a runner. The Giants have used Dart as a runner to a fairly ridiculous degree — more than any other quarterback in the NFL despite being a backup the first three games. Dart’s legs are too potent a weapon to never use, but that doesn’t mean he should be asked to run nearly as often as he has.
To expand on that, it also means scheming to avoid making him feel as though he needs to pick up yardage on his own. Kafka — not Daboll — will have the final say on game plans, and he should make an effort to always scheme separation and an outlet for Dart in passing plays. Some of the biggest hits Dart has taken have come on improvisational scrambles after receiving targets failed to get open. Making a point of using route combinations that can create easy separation should be one of the first things Kafka does.
It wasn’t mentioned much — and won’t be explored deeply now — but the Giants made a significant adjustment at halftime against the Bears.
We all saw them have Dart play under center far more against the Bears than he has at any point in his football career — possibly put together. The...
