Mike Kafka was calm in the heat of the action and now is showing patience in defeat.
One day after Kafka wrapped up his first game as Giants interim head coach by saying that he would “evaluate all the coaches, the [play] calls, be hypercritical of that, and then find out those areas where we can be better,” he decided that the staff would remain “status quo” despite the familiar feel of a 27-20 loss to the Packers.
“As a matter of fact, we’re going to go and attack this week of prep,” Kafka said Monday. “The coaches are excited about it. We just watched the tape with some good, fresh ideas.”
The Giants visit the Lions on Sunday.
Kicker Graham Gano, who is on injured reserve with a herniated disc in his neck, posted photos to Instagram that reveal he underwent a medical procedure. In one image, he is in a hospital bed with neck brace; in another he still has the neck brace but is in street clothes and in another the brace is gone but a bandage remain on his neck.
RT Evan Neal, who was put on injured reserve Saturday despite not playing a snap all season, injured his hamstring during a “workout,” Kafka said. The No. 7 pick in the 2022 draft will miss at least three more games but likely is finished with the Giants.
“The docs made a decision to do the move to IR,” Kafka said.
Kafka changed the Giants’ weekday schedule from giving players off on Tuesdays — as is customary around the NFL and was Daboll’s way — to off on Mondays. Players typically are in the facility Monday for treatment.
“I think it gives the coaches a little bit of front-end time in terms of getting prepped and then they see [players Tuesday],” Kafka said. “It kind of takes the emotion out of the game. Allows guys to evaluate it and see it with clear eyes. Allows the coaches to do the same. Then it gives us an opportunity to flip the page and move onto the next opponent. Just a little different schedule that I’ve had in the past, and I thought it was a good fit.”
It’s clear that Kafka will use analytics in his game management.
Why did the Giants receive the opening kickoff — instead of deferring — after winning the coin toss?
“Just where we wanted to be in the fourth quarter … and give ourselves an opportunity with kind of the wind and favorable position,” Kafka said. “I obviously had trust in the offense too, so, kind of killed two birds with one stone.”
Kafka also lost his first replay-review challenge after thinking that Packers running back Josh Jacobs stepped out of bounds before the first-down marker.
“Even looking today, it was really close,” Kafka said. “I know the replay showed there was kind of like two angles. One right down the sideline where you can kind of see a little bit of green, but then the one from the side view, it looks like he’s out. So, just being aggressive with it. I’m not hesitant to pull the flag if our guys see something and they’re confident about it.”
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