Will the gameplan for Jaxson Dart look differently with Mike Kafka now the head coach? | Blue Rush - video Dailymotion

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Watch Will the gameplan for Jaxson Dart look differently with Mike Kafka now the head coach? | Blue Rush - New York Post on Dailymotion

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00:00All right, it's time for your week 12 post-practice report.

00:08Brendan London here alongside with the New York Post sports columnist Mark Cannizzaro.

00:13Mark, the sun is shining on our faces right now, and it's also shining because it looks

00:19like Jackson Dart is trending in the right direction in the concussion protocol.

00:24He could potentially play Sunday.

00:26No official word just yet, but you saw him out there for a little bit during warm-ups.

00:32What were your initial thoughts?

00:34I think the expectation here across the board, Brandon, is he will play on Sunday.

00:39As we saw, the media portion obviously is just calisthenics, warm-ups, stretching, that

00:44kind of thing, but he was doing his jogging and running like everybody else was.

00:48I spoke to a number of players in the locker room where we just got out of, and the feel

00:53that you get there is there's a total expectation he'll be back on Sunday.

00:56You know, this is a step-by-step thing that the whole concussion protocol, you know, today

01:02he was in a quote-unquote non-contact practice, which is semantics because the quarterbacks,

01:07as you know, wear the red jerseys and nobody can touch them anyway.

01:11So I suspect that tomorrow he will probably be, you know, quote-unquote upgraded in practice

01:17where it's not non-contact, even though it will be non-contact, if that makes any sense.

01:21So I think he's, you know, he's progressing, and I'll be shocked if he's not playing on Sunday,

01:26especially listening to the guys I spoke to in the room.

01:29And I just know that there's a lot of, I felt a lot of energy talking to some of the guys,

01:33the offensive guys, offensive linemen, receivers.

01:36Everybody's pretty stoked to have him back, even though the Jameis experience was fun with

01:40a lot of respect last week.

01:42You know, at the end of the day, we've all seen, you know, how different the Giants look

01:45offensively with Dart in there, and I think everybody's looking forward to getting that

01:49back again.

01:50If you're Mike Kafka, do you call this game with Jackson Dart pre-concussion, or do you

01:58call it like Jameis Winston last week against the Packers?

02:03Well, I am very fascinated to see how Mike Kafka, the head coach, calls this game with

02:09Jackson versus Mike Kafka, the offensive coordinator.

02:13It's interesting, I was just speaking to Paul Schwartz, our colleague, you know, the

02:16beat writer here for us, the Giants beat writer, and, you know, everybody was all over Brian

02:21Dayball for, you know, the number of design runs that he called for Jackson, but the reality

02:28is Kafka was the one that was calling those plays, right?

02:30And now he's the head coach.

02:32Does he continue to do that?

02:33Is there a little bit more caution?

02:34I suspect there'll be a little more caution.

02:36I don't think you're going to see that much, you know, running with abandon.

02:39And certainly on the off-schedule plays, I am 100% sure that Jackson's going to be much

02:44more conscious about sliding instead of laying his shoulder into somebody.

02:50I do expect that there'll be a handful of design runs because that's part of, you know,

02:55that's part of his superpower.

02:57Will they call as many as they were before he was hurt?

03:00I doubt it.

03:01But it will be an interesting dynamic to see how Kafka calls the game as the head coach.

03:06I mean, listen, there's been a lot of speculation about maybe Dayball's firing, you know, a part

03:11of that being the fact that Jackson got hurt, which I think is nonsense and ridiculous.

03:15But, I mean, that's, everybody's throwing their stamp on these kind of things.

03:18But, you know, as I said, at the end of the day, Kafka was the guy calling the plays.

03:23You know, certainly Dayball was not vetoing them.

03:25And why would he?

03:26Because it's successful.

03:27And I see now that he's, now if he gets Jackson Dart back, I wonder if he does take a page

03:33out of that game plan of the Packers game with the Jameis.

03:37One, it was a lot of runs on first down.

03:40They were predominantly heavy with the run on first down.

03:42Two, they did a lot of quick game as well.

03:45I wonder if you add that as an extension to the run to get the ball out of Jackson Dart's

03:51hands as fast as possible.

03:52We know how the Detroit Lions like to play, a lot of man-to-man press in your face and

03:57then get after the quarterback with pressure.

04:00But, okay, the game plan surrounding Jackson Dart is one thing, but who will he be throwing

04:06to is another thing.

04:07Isaiah Hodgins just got off the plane, what, a week ago, and he was able to lead all the

04:14receivers, including the Packers receivers, in that week 11 loss.

04:18We both got a chance to talk with Isaiah.

04:21I'll kind of piggyback off of you.

04:23Were you impressed with what he was able to do and pick up so fast?

04:28I was.

04:29I mean, personally, I was impressed.

04:30Now, I don't play receiver, nor am I a pro football player.

04:33But what I got out of today, and obviously you and I both spoke to Isaiah for a while,

04:38but I also spoke to a handful of the other receivers, Wandel, Robinson, and I was supposed

04:42to slay at the end of the session over there.

04:44And I was kind of asking them to put themselves into Isaiah's shoes with zero reps and zero

04:51practice.

04:52And they both were kind of blown away at his production.

04:57You know, I mean, you know, we think we all know Isaiah a little bit from his previous

05:00stay here.

05:01You know, he's a super conscientious guy, a very smart guy.

05:04You have to be smart to be able to come in here.

05:06You know, it's easy for the outsider to say, oh, well, he was a receiver here a couple

05:10of years ago, and they could pick it up.

05:11And, you know, it's the same, you know, stuff.

05:13It isn't really the same stuff.

05:14You know, some of it's the same, but the terminology is different.

05:17And, you know, and everything's game plan specific, too.

05:21So for him to come out there and have five catches, you know, and some very significant

05:24catches in that game is incredibly impressive.

05:28And it impressed the people around him inside that locker room.

05:31I think, you know what?

05:32Selfishly, it didn't impress me that much.

05:34Because if you remember, 2022, when he came in after the trade deadline, when they

05:39picked him from someone else's practice squad, he led the team in receptions for that

05:45last run.

05:47The playoff run was great.

05:48And I think he had eight catches for 105, I want to say, in the Pittsburgh game, you

05:52know, in the playoff game that they won, which is the last significant game I feel

05:56like they've played.

05:57So, yeah, I mean, listen, I get it.

06:00He was productive before, but I think it was fun to see.

06:05And, again, you and I were around him.

06:08I think what's kind of cool about it is just the uncertainty in this game.

06:11And you've lived it a bit, you know, in your playing time when you were not a starter or

06:16whatever, you're trying to get off practice squads and things like that.

06:18And, you know, I spoke to him about being at home and, you know, do you ever have that

06:22moment where you're like, even though he's only, what, 28, 27 years old, I want to say,

06:26you know, are you going to get another chance?

06:28You know, I mean, he spent the entire year here up until last week on a practice squad,

06:32San Francisco and then Pittsburgh.

06:34And, you know, he did say that he felt some of those vibes a little bit and those fears.

06:38It's just human nature.

06:40And, you know, he talked about using the jugs machine and running routes and stuff like

06:44that.

06:45He has a jugs machine at home in Arizona where he lives.

06:48And he literally said he had his wife and his son, you know, putting balls in the jugs

06:52machine, you know, in the backyard.

06:53So that would have been quite a scene to see.

06:56So, you know, he's done everything he can to stay ready.

06:58And it showed on Sunday last week.

07:00If you stay ready, you never have to get ready.

07:02And he spoke with me, and you guys will see this on the Blue Rush pregame show that how he's

07:08already dealt with the business of the sport.

07:11So we talk about that fear of that uncertainty of not knowing if you're going to get caught

07:16up, if you're going to get cut, if you'll be home in Arizona.

07:19You've dealt with the business side of it.

07:21So I look at it as I think it almost worked into his favor, his story, his journey, because

07:28you go in there and if they bring you in and they have you starting after you got here

07:33on a Thursday and you're starting Sunday, this could be the first time the Giants really

07:38looked at him and say, hey, we need you.

07:40Outside of that 2022 playoff run to where he kind of went and took those reps.

07:45He went and he went and took those touchdowns.

07:49But this is a situation to where this could be the first time the Giants actually called

07:54him and was like, hey, we're sending the back signal up.

07:57We need you to come in and kind of save this receiving core right now.

08:00He said that he did not expect to play nearly as many plays as he played on Sunday.

08:07But he said when he looked at the game plan, he's like, oh, it looks like I am going to

08:11play quite a few plays.

08:12And I think he told me he thought maybe get in maybe 20 plays, 15, 18, 20 plays.

08:18And he played, I want to say he played close to 50.

08:21And obviously the production was there and they were clutch catches.

08:24And he said once he made that first catch, he got the jitters out and he was glad to get

08:29that out of the way and, you know, then you're not thinking about it and you just get into

08:33the flow of the game.

08:34You're expecting 20 plays.

08:35You play 50.

08:36Oxygen tank.

08:38That's the only way you're getting through that game.

08:40If he wasn't in Denver, right?

08:41Oh, he really would have passed out then.

08:43But congratulations to him.

08:44We'll wait to see what the official news is for Jackson Dart when that is released.

08:49But for Mark Cannizzaro, Brandon London here, thanks for watching.

Will the gameplan for Jaxson Dart look differently with Mike Kafka now the head coach? | Blue Rush

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