In the most trying times of the Giants’ season, Brian Daboll resisted the public outcry to fire Shane Bowen.
That loyalty wasn’t lost on Bowen, who fell on the sword Thursday for the four blown double-digit leads that contributed to Daboll’s firing earlier this week.
“There’s a responsibility that falls on me,” Bowen said. “We haven’t been good enough defensively, particularly closing out games. Evaluating everything — scheme, personnel, different situations. We have to find ways to win these games and not give it up in the fourth.”
Interim head coach Mike Kafka is a former NFL quarterback, quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator who suddenly finds himself standing behind the defensive huddle in practices.
In other words, Kafka, in his audition to be a head coach, isn’t acting like he is only responsible for one side of the ball.
“From an operation standpoint, he’ll bring his presence around. He’s there,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said. “He’s making sure guys’ communication is up to par. He’s making sure, pre-snap, our huddle operation is great, and if it’s not, he’s having us to do it over. He’s kind of just stamping standards and benchmarks we need to make.”
Perhaps just Kafka’s sense of calm will make an impact on the sidelines the next time that the Giants are mid-meltdown. The fiery Daboll always was one play from combusting as the Giants surrendered leads after the two-minute warning to the Cowboys, Broncos and Bears.
And Kafka? Dexter Lawrence has shared a building with him for four years but didn’t know much about his new head coach’s personality.
“I had to ask one of the coaches, ‘Does he have one?’ ” Lawrence quipped. “But I’m still learning. It’s different because you never hear from him, now you hear from him all the time, so I’m adjusting.”
All the time? Is Kafka drawing up new blitzes and suggesting personnel changes?
Not quite.
“He’s roaming over to the defense, throwing little jabs and little comments at the defensive line,” Lawrence said. “Just giving us a little extra juice, just challenging the defense daily in different ways, and it’s a lot of respect.”
In his first comments as interim head coach, Kafka teased “some minor little tweaks that we would do throughout the week to make it more efficient and to clean up some communication stuff” on defense. Though he was Daboll’s assistant head coach, Kafka wasn’t privy to those Daboll-Bowen conversations.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be anything drastic,” Bowen said. “The major emphasis for us is finding ways to be at our best when it matters most.”
Kafka opted against making any kind of big change on the other side of the ball similar to when Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich switched offensive play-callers from Nathaniel Hackett to Todd Downing last season.
Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson and inside linebackers coach John Egorugwu are four-year members of the staff, like Kafka. And secondary coach Marquand Manuel is a former play-calling defensive coordinator for the Falcons.
Too many changes at once can be damning, as the Jets learned under Ulbrich.
“We’ve got the same scheme, same coordinator,” Brian Burns said. “Everything is pretty much the same as far as the game plan.”
Daboll hired Bowen after he became available when the Titans fired Mike Vrabel after the 2023 season. He retained Bowen after last season despite Giants owner John Mara’s harsh criticisms of the defense, though there was a scenario floated inside the building in which Bowen could’ve wound up reuniting with Vrabel in New England and the Giants could’ve landed Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, sources told The Post.
Bowen said he “can’t say enough good things about [Daboll] as a leader.”
The biggest challenge in the Kafka-Bowen show could be getting the defense to play well Sunday against the Packers with five defensive starters — Okereke, cornerback Paulson Adebo, edge Kayvon Thibodeaux, defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches and safety Tyler Nubin — listed on the injury report.
“When you look at what we’ve done on defense, it’s just continuing the mindset throughout the whole game,” safety Dane Belton said. “There’s nothing we have to do that’s out of our realm — or something we haven’t done yet. Whatever Kafka relays to Shane, we’re on board as long as we’re able to attack and finish the fourth quarter.”
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