Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka
Q: What did you see from (quarterback) Daniel (Jones) on Sunday? He looked very confident. I thought he scrambled quite a bit a lot too.
MIKE KAFKA: I think he did a nice job distributing the football. When opportunities came up, he stepped up and ran it well as well. I think it started up front for him. The O-line did a really nice job protecting, (Offensive Line Coach) Carm (Carmen Bricillo) and those guys. The skill guys complemented that as well.
Q: There was one or two where he maybe could have slid or went out of bounds and not taken a hit. How much as coaches are you telling him to do that? Because I know that's a fine line because we want you to be aggressive, but at the same time, 'Hey, maybe don't take a hit on this one.'
MIKE KAFKA: I think for Daniel (Jones), he's a football player. He knows when he can be aggressive and when he can get down and slide. I think he's shown that over the course of his career. It's just a good reminder, as a coach, going in there and, 'All right, if you can take a hit or not take a hit, don't do that.' But, he's been smart about it.
Q: You've obviously been around younger players, younger skill players. I'm thinking of (tight end) Theo Johnson. The first couple weeks looks like he's swimming a little bit, growing pains. Is there a moment where you can actually see, whether it's on the practice field or on tape, that the light goes on and you say, 'All right, he's now taking that next step to the point where he's not having those kind of rookie issues that you're dealing with early on?'
MIKE KAFKA: Theo (Johnson) is a young player and he's continuing to grow each and every day. You see it in the meeting rooms. He's getting more comfortable with it. You see it on the practice field. I think the more opportunities that come his way, he's going to make those plays. That's really for any young player. You're getting into what the NFL game is like. You're getting more comfortable and more confident and Theo (Johnson) is doing that.
Q: As well as your receivers are playing, particularly last week without (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers), there's been still some drop issues. What do you do to combat that?
MIKE KAFKA: It always goes back to the fundamentals. Going back in practice and working on the catch point and seeing it all the way into the tuck. You're talking to the quarterbacks about ball placement. All those things. So, it's just the fundamentals and getting everyone on the same page. But, we worked on that yesterday. We'll continue to work on that throughout the week.
Q: I assume you had a feeling about how well (running back Tyrone) Tracy could play. Did he even surprise you with what he did Sunday?
MIKE KAFKA: I don't think he surprised me. He's been putting in great work all through camp, since he's gotten here really. He puts really good intent into the meeting rooms and on the practice field he tries to be as detailed as can be. And (Running Backs) Coach (Joel) Thomas has done a nice job of getting him up to speed. So, no, there's no surprise there. He's a good player and it's a guy that we expect him to do what he does.
Q: Obviously at the beginning of the game, you had that quick adversity after that great drive down the field. How deflating is that when that happens?
MIKE KAFKA: I wouldn't say it's deflating. It's not the mindset we've had. It's something that we have to learn from and grow from. Obviously, you don't want fumbles in general, especially at the inch yard line. We've got to learn from that and we can't have those type of things. But I thought our mentality was good. That's a hard play to sometimes overcome. But we've had good leadership that can overcome that.
Q: As an assistant coach, you see the way (Head Coach) Dabs (Brian Daboll) handles things, even-keeled as he is. What have you learned from the way he does handle something like that? There is no panic and, like you said, it's got to be as hard a turn around at the beginning of the game as you can get.
MIKE KAFKA: We've had a few of those. Our first play of the game was a fumble for a big minus, but we overcame it. It starts with Dabs (Brian Daboll). Then it feeds through the coaches, feeds through the players, feeds through the leadership on our side, the offense. That's a compliment to Dabs (Brian Daboll) and what he's built around here with the culture and how we're going to handle adversity as a unit.
