Getty Jason Garrett has received some unlikely credit for what he did with Daniel Jones and the New York Giants' offense.
MMike Kafka can’t get the New York Giants on track offensively, despite having more talent at his disposal than his much-maligned predecessor Jason Garrett.
Offensive coordinator Kafka’s group failed to score a touchdown for the third time this season during the Week 5’s 31-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins, and Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post said former play-caller Garrett’s “units did more with less in 2020-21. Sorry, but true.”
#Giants offense has not scored a TD in 3 of 5 games. Has 12 points in 5 first halves.
Jason Garrett’s units did more with less in 2020-21. Sorry, but true.
That’s a damning indictment of Kafka and head coach Brian Daboll. Garret served as Giants’ OC for less than two years from 2020-21, with Big Blue never ranking higher than 25th in points per game on his watch.
Things are just as bleak on that side of the ball under Daboll and Kafka. Their offense has just five touchdowns to its credit, even after paying quarterback Daniel Jones a lucrative new contract, trading for Pro-Bowl tight end Darren Waller and investing free-agency dollars and high draft capital at wide receiver.
Injuries haven’t helped, but there have also been worrying issues with play calling and an inability to get the ball to the best players often enough. Either way, it’s hard to argue Kafka and Daboll don’t have more to work with than Garrett was given.
Former Giants’ OC Had Limitations and Bad Luck
Daboll and Kafka can point to key injuries, like those being nursed by standout left tackle Andrew Thomas and Pro-Bowl running back Saquon Barkley. Yet, Garrett had his own injury issues to deal with during his ill-fated tenure.
Issues like Barkley playing just two games in 2020 thanks to a torn ACL. Jones also missed numerous games across Garrett’s spell, leaving the latter to call plays for retread passers like Colt McCoy and Mike Glennon.
Injuries certainly don’t explain all of the Giants’ failings when Garrett was in town. Sequences of run, run, pass became predictable, per Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis.
Daboll, who replaced Garrett’s former boss Joe Judge largely because of a successful stint as offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, was supposed to mix things up. The promise of more creativity was only underlined when Daboll hired Kafka, who’d coached Patrick Mahomes with the Kansas City Chiefs for Andy Reid, the brightest offensive mind in the NFL.
Instead, reality is proving underwhelming as the Giants struggle to find the right formula for moving the football.
Giants Struggling for Creativity
Creative isn’t a word you can use to describe the Giants’ offense this season. Not when Daboll recently acknowledged Waller isn’t getting the ball enough. Not when Kafka has had to convince observers he’s still calling plays.
Part of the issues went away against the Dolphins, with Waller snagging eight receptions from 11 targets. Yet, an increased workload for the 31-year-old couldn’t hide other lingering issues.
Problems like Jones being sacked six times and having to leave the game with a neck injury. He’s been battered behind a makeshift offensive line, but Jones has also suffered because the Giants aren’t creating quick throws, favorable matchups and big plays with formations and play design.
Garrett had his moments doing these things, like splitting Barkley out as a wide receiver for this touchdown against the New Orleans Saints in 2021.
THERE GOES THAT MAN!
📺: @NFLonFOX & Giants App
There’s been precious little of this from any member of the Giants’ backfield since Daboll and Kafka took the reins. They also couldn’t get versatile Kadarius Toney on track before trading him midway through last season to the Chiefs, who he helped win a Super Bowl.
Toney was the Giants’ first-round pick in 2021 and there were brief glimpses of what might have been on Garrett’s watch. Like when Toney dominated against the Dallas Cowboys.
Kadarius Toney vs the Cowboys:
🍎 11 touches
🍎 196 total yards
Daboll and Kafka couldn’t coax the same production from Toney. Nor have they been able to get young replacements like 2022 second-round pick Wan’Dale Robinson and this year’s third-rounder Jalin Hyatt involved often enough.
Even somebody like Parris Campbell, signed from the Indianapolis Colts this offseason, had just two catches in Miami. He entered the game at Hard Rock Stadium with a mere 14 catches from only 21 targets, per Pro Football Reference.
This isn’t what a revamped passing game was supposed to look like. The Giants will be better offensively once Thomas and Barkley return to the lineup, but having them back won’t mask every deficiency in the Daboll and Kafka system.