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Transcript: Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka

Eric from BBI : Admin : 10/6/2022 6:17 pm
Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka

Q: How do you feel about your situation right now at wide receiver?

A: I think all the guys are doing a really good job. I feel good with where we're at.

Q: Are there enough guys?

A: Yeah.

Q: What have you seen from (wide receiver) Kadarius (Toney) the last few weeks from when you've been able to get him on the field?

A: He's done everything we've asked. He's practiced hard when he's practicing. It's unfortunate but he's one of those guys that does everything we asked and is working his tail off in the training room and in the meeting rooms. He does a great job with that.

Q: You obviously see the dynamic he can be – how much have you been able to see that explosiveness? He's been on and off the field so sporadically.

A: You see it when he's out there. You see it out at the practice field.

Q: When you have a quarterback who has been running as much as (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) and maybe won't be 100 percent, how much does that effect the gameplan?

A: You certainly account for it, make sure that we put him in the right spots. He's doing a good job. He's doing a good job practicing. We see him run around.

Q: The reason I ask is because it's a very wide receiver-dominant league right now as you know. You guys I think had three catches from your wide receivers. Is that sustainable? You guys are so different week to week. Is that sustainable or are teams eventually going to adjust to – they're not going down the field with these wide receivers, let's put 10 in the box against (running back) Saquon (Barkley)?

A: I think you hit it on a week-to-week basis, being flexible. I think the staff has done a good job of making sure that we have enough stuff in the gameplan to be able to go with how the flow of the game is rolling and have that flexibility to make adjustments on the sideline and take advantage of some looks. You have enough stuff in the gameplan and make sure you go through it and put the guys in the right spot. Those are things that we do every week.

Q: What have you seen from Daniel this week? We saw him yesterday moving pretty well.

A: Yeah, I think you saw it on the field. He was running around and doing everything that we are asking him to do from a practice standpoint.

Q: I think you guys are running play action at the highest rate in the league and Daniel's numbers in play action are much better. What is it about that that has been so successful for you guys?

A: It gives you the ability to influence second-level defenders a little bit. Those guys are stepping up in the run game, obviously creates a little bit bigger of a window on the second level and then gives you a little more space on the perimeter as well. Those are definitely good aspects of any offense. Our offense, obviously, we've done a few more of those. You need to have flexibility to have that, drop back – it all ties in really from the run game, the pass game, the drop-back game, your quick game, screens, play actions. All those things got to tie in together, you can't just be so far on one side or so far on the other. You have to have the ability to do multiple things. That way you keep the defense on their toes a little bit.

Q: How are you handling the whole quarterback situation this week? You have a lot of uncertainty – not just Daniel but also with (quarterback) Tyrod (Taylor).

A: In the building, we have a plan. That's what we're going with. I'll let (head coach Brian Daboll) Dabs talk about that if he wants to talk about those specific plans. We have a plan and that's how we are going to roll with our game planning and how we want to handle this week.

Q; When you say you have a plan, does that mean it's specific for one person? Or are you saying we have a general plan?

A: I think you have to have both. You want to make sure that we have options for whatever may happen.

Q: How comfortable are you with (quarterback) Davis (Webb) if he starts or if Daniel starts, he's one play away? Davis has obviously been in the offense a long time but he's five years without actually playing in an NFL regular season game.

A: Yeah, Davis has done a great job even throughout the spring, training camp, preseason. You saw him play out there. I have a ton of confidence in him. I have a ton of confidence in that whole quarterback room. They do a great job. They're all pros. They treat a game week the right way. They prep the right way. They interact with their teammates. They're great leaders and great teammates. They do all that, as you would expect, at a high level.

Q: What's it been like for you? You obviously had to learn parts of this offense and Davis is sort of a master of it. When you come into that room, what has he been like, especially back in the spring?

A: It's been great to lean on him because he certainly has a bunch of experience in it and how it has evolved over the years. He's been a great resource and obviously when I was first learning it, to be able to talk to him about, 'Hey, look at this, how did you guys see this?' (quarterbacks coach) Shea's (Tierney) been a great resource as well. In that room, it's surrounded between Dabs, Shea and Davis – those guys had a really good head start on everybody and got everyone caught up really fast. That was huge.

Q: Daniel seems to be making a lot of good decisions on his run-pass options. Can you talk about that, what you see in his game?

A: We had some effectiveness on that last week and getting those guys on the perimeter. It's simple for the quarterback, right? Either running it or throwing it. He made good decisions on those.

Q: How about using Saquon as a pass catcher? He's had that in his football history.

A: Oh absolutely. I think we have stuff like that for him on a week-to-week basis. Those are things that we evaluate when we're trying to get him out in space or use him in the run game. Those are things that we have every week. We have them up every week and depending on what the defense is doing, those are things that we might get to.

Q: How much of what you do as a play caller is stringing looks together so you can show one thing and then you have another variation off it?

A: I think that's the art of play calling - tying in your looks based off what you might anticipate a defense showing or defense is doing and then having answers to what they may or may not present so that you have stuff to counter what they do. We spent a lot of time thinking about it and trying to set that up. Then being able to adjust in-game. Sometimes you might not have it on the call sheet, but we talk about it on the sideline and get everybody on the same page and then go and run it and execute it.

Q: Do you mind using Saquon that much? I know obviously he's been your best offensive player so far, but he's been on the field for a really high percentage of snaps, 88 percent of your snaps and touching the ball a lot. Do you look at that as there needs to be a limit on that or do you just look at it and say, 'Hey, whatever we need here. Whatever it takes?'

A: I think however the game is going. Wherever we can find an advantage on offense, that's who should touch the ball. Whether that's a receiver or running back or tight end, quarterback. You want to try to take advantage as much as you can of what the defense is presenting and not so much try and force to one particular person or player or group. You've just got to have flexibility, I think. I know that's probably not the answer you're looking for, but I think that's what we look for as an offense, as a staff, is to take advantage of the looks that we're getting on defense and try to make it an advantage for us.
IDK.....  
Kev in Cali : 10/6/2022 7:43 pm : link
I didn't get the same warm fuzzy from him as I did the Wink interview.

On Toney: "done everything we've asked .......doing as much as he can....doing a good job..."

On WR group: are there enough guys?......"yea yea."

He's may not be as good as Wink at what he does (and darn close), but he's putting our offense in the right direction/position with committing to the run.

Previous OCs.....no comparison, he's better.

Kafka Vid from today. - ( New Window )
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