Big Blue View
Mike Kafka is not going to be, cannot be, the next full-time head coach of the New York Giants.
That much became clear both during and after the Giants’ humiliating, non-competitive 33-15 loss to the New England Patriots on Monday night.
Kafka seems to be a nice guy. He is doing the best he can in adverse circumstances, which is what all interim gigs are.
In his first couple of weeks on the job after the firing of Brian Daboll, Kafka did some good things.
He got the team to play hard, and nearly beat playoff-bound teams in the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. He and the Giants might have done that, except for the team’s defenseless defense.
Kafka handled an Abdul Carter situation Daboll had apparently been unwilling to handle as the No. 3 overall pick in the draft had apparently not been disciplined by Daboll for what have been said to be repeated transgressions. When Carter missed walk-through — whether he was sleeping or rehabbing is irrelevant. Carter wasn’t where we was supposed to be, and got benched for the first series of a Week 11 game against the Green Bay Packers.
After two “get to know you” weeks of watching Shane Bowen try to lead the Giants’ defense, Kafka fired Bowen and replaced him with Charlie Bullen. That led to a more aggressive defensive philosophy against the Patriots. It did not lead to better results.
Kafka had done enough good things prior to Monday that it seemed he could be a legitimate candidate to have “interim” removed from his title. Provided, of course, his team won some games. A signature victory Monday over a 10-2 Patriots team would have help.
Instead, Monday was a disaster for Kafka. Both during and after a 33-15 drubbing by the Patriots that looked a varsity team scrimmaging against the JV.
The Giants were not competitive right from the opening kickoff, when they surrendered a 39-yard return. The special teams were comically inept. The defensive calls with Charlie Bullen replacing Shane Bowen were more aggressive, but it wasn’t any better. The Giants still gave up 6.3 yards per play and could not get stops in the first half when there was still a chance the game could be competitive.
Kafka, who has said again and again that he wants the Giants to be in an aggressive mindset, did not appear to be in one. The two fourth downs he refused to go for made it look like he was coaching with an eye toward keeping the scoreboard at least semi-respectable rather risking an even bigger blowout in an effort get back into the game.
Down 27-7 with 1:13 left in the first half, Kafka chose to punt with fourth-and-1 at the Giants’ 40-yard line. New England, of course, turned that into three points. With fourth-and-8 at the Giants’ 27-yard line and 7:41 to play Kafka punted with the score 30-15 and the Giants still have the tiniest pulse. Again, New England...
