Tag: seattle seahawks

New York Giants’ Mike Kafka ‘still in play’ for Seahawks coaching job

New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka currently has his hands full down in Texas where he’s serving as head coach of the West Team in the 2024 Shrine Bowl.

But behind the scenes, following two interviews with the Seattle Seahawks for their vacant head coaching job, things are still churning.

With Ben Johnson opting to remain in Detroit, Kafka remains very much alive in the hunt for the Seattle job.

In addition to Kafka, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike McDonald, Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn are also being considered for the job.

Both Quinn and McDonald have drawn interest from the Washington Commanders for their vacant head coaching position.

Also of note, the Giants requested an interview with Evero for their open defensive coordinator position but it was blocked by the Panthers.

There has been significant speculation this offseason that Kafka desires a departure from East Rutherford due to a deteriorating relationship with head coach Brian Daboll. Despite that, the Giants are intent on keeping Kafka around if he doesn’t land a head coaching job.



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Giants’ Mike Kafka gets second head coaching interview with Seahawks

The New York Giants expect to retain offensive coordinator Mike Kafka despite his alleged unhappiness in East Rutherford, but he’s still drawing interest as a potential head coach.

Kafka has already interviewed with the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks, and now the ‘Hawks are circling back.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Seattle is setting up a second interview with Kafka and several other head coaching candidates.

This is the second consecutive year that Kafka has drawn significant interest as part of the league’s coaching carousel. He interviewed with both the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals for their vacant positions a year ago and was a finalist in Arizona’s search.

The Seahawks are unlikely to draw this out much further indicating that Kafka is, once again, a head coaching finalist.

The 36-year-old Kafka was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2010 NFL draft and spent six years as a journeyman backup before becoming an assistant coach at Northwestern, his alma mater, in 2016. He made the leap to the NFL in 2017 when he joined the Kansas City Chiefs as an offensive quality control coach.

In 2018, Kafka became their quarterbacks coach and remained in that post until being hired by Brian Daboll as the Giants’ offensive coordinator in 2022.

Under Kafka, the Giants have struggled offensively and finished near the bottom of the league this past season. However, those struggles were largely the result of injuries, poor offensive line play, and underwhelming performances by the team’s three quarterbacks. He was also reportedly smothered by Daboll, who relieved him of the play-calling duties on numerous occasions.

Despite those issues, NFL teams still view Kafka as a viable head coaching candidate and believe a divorce from Daboll would serve him well.



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New York Giants interview Larry Izzo for special teams coordinator job

In what was expected news, the New York Giants have completed an interview with Larry Izzo for their vacant special teams coordinator position on Saturday.

Izzo was on the Giants’ radar from the start of their search and was among eight potential candidates listed by Giants Wire before the interview gauntlet began.

The 49-year-old Izzo is a former special team standout as a player who has become one of the more respected coaches in the NFL following his 14 seasons on the field.

Izzo was the Giants’ special teams assistant for the Giants under Tom Quinn from 2011 through 2015 and has a Super Bowl ring as a result.

Since 2020, Izzo has served as the Seattle Seahawks special teams coordinator — first in the interim role and then in the full-time role.

Although Izzo is technically still under contract with the Seahawks, he was granted permission to interview with the Giants as Seattle continues their head coaching search.

In addition to Izzo, the Giants have also interviewed Michael Ghobrial, Carlos Polk and Matt Harper.

The special teams coordinator job was made available following the Black Monday firing of Thomas McGaughey.



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Larry Izzo on New York Giants’ radar as ST coordinator search rolls on

One name to keep in mind for the New York Giants’ vacant special teams coordinator position is Larry Izzo.

ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reports that the Giants are interested in a potential reunion but may have to wait until the situation in Seattle settles itself.

As we noted last week in a list of possible candidates, Izzo was a former special team ace as a player who has become one of the more respected coaches in the NFL.

Izzo was the Giants’ special teams assistant for the Giants under Tom Quinn from 2011-15 and has a Super Bowl ring as a result.

Izzo has been the Seattle Seahawks’ special teams coordinator since 2021 and is still under contract for the time being. He would be a great get if general manager Joe Schoen can work some magic.

As stated, Izzo and Brian Daboll have a history working together and a reunion is not out of the question. The Seahawks recently moved on from long-time head coach Pete Carroll and it is uncertain if they will retain Izzo.



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Giants’ Dexter Lawrence shares his goodbye message to Leonard Williams

The New York Giants traded veteran defensive lineman Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks this week for a pair of draft picks.

Williams had played his entire eight-and-a-half-year NFL career in New Jersey, the first four with the Jets and the last four with the Giants. Translation: he’s seen a lot of losing and is now headed to a winner.

Williams will be missed for sure. Teammate Dexter Lawrence spoke about his friend’s departure.

“He’s a great football player and going to be hard to replace,” Lawrence said on Wednesday. “I was happy for him. He didn’t have to say much. I already know how he feels. I was just happy for him, told him to go out there and shine and we’ll hold it down.”

Lawrence has been doing a great job of holding things down. He’s on an All-Pro trajectory this season. Last week against the Jets, Lawrence was a one-man gang.

Lawrence is playing it week by week and simply going out and doing what the Giants hoped he could do when they selected him 17th overall out of Clemson back in 2019.

“Each week I want to dominate and that’s what I’m going to do each week. And that’s my goal, is to dominate. I enjoy pressure and I like pressure, whatever this brings, it brings, and I am just going to keep being me,” he said.

Williams had a huge effect on Lawrence both on and off the field. Asked what he learned the most from Williams, Lawrence kept it simple.

“Just how to be yourself. Don’t get overwhelmed in moments and just stay true and cool to yourself,” he said.

It’s working.

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Giants trading Leonard Williams to Seahawks for multiple picks

The New York Giants fell to 2-6 with a Sunday loss to the New York Jets, and that essentially triggered their need to sell at the NFL trade deadline.

With precious little cap space remaining and no hope at the playoffs, the Giants have agreed to trade defensive lineman Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks.

In exchange for The Big Cat, the Giants will receive a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick.

More to come…



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Offense, defense and special teams snap counts

For the third time in four weeks, the New York Giants were completely humiliated in front of the football world on Monday night. This time, their beating came at the hands of Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks.

The Giants were dominated in every facet of the game and put on a display that not only rivals the embarrassment of the Joe Judge years but arguably surpasses it.

It may be hard to believe given how poorly run this organization has been over the past decade-plus, but it appears the Giants have found a new bottom.

Here are the snap counts that contributed to the Giants’ most recent defeat.

Offensive snaps: 75
Defensive snaps: 55
Special teams snaps: 23

Wide receiver Sterling Shepard continues to be an afterthought as he took just five snaps on Monday night. Curiously, the Giants didn’t even bother using him as a punt returner, instead risking cornerback Adoree’ Jackson once again.

Meanwhile, in his return to the field, linebacker Azeez Ojulari took 40 snaps and was relatively effective. He needs to work on finishing (missed a couple would be sacks) but was one of the team’s few bright spots.

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Giants’ Brian Daboll has confidence in Deonte Banks, Tre Hawkins

The New York Giants’ young cornerbacks will have their hands full this Monday night with the Seattle Seahawks’ talented wide receiver group.

DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba are a formidable trio for any NFL secondary, never mind one that will start two rookies such as the Giants (Deonte Banks, Tre Hawkins III) will in this game.

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Giants head coach Brian Daboll was asked on Saturday about the growing pains teams face when putting young players in key positions.

“That’s a good question,” Daboll said. “I’d say any young player, starting with rookies, but even second-year guys, they have to play. There’s going to be some quote-unquote growing pains at times with any young player. But I think as long as they’re improving, and you can see it at practice, they get some more familiarity in game situations.

“They’re good players. Put them into different situations. Hopefully, the next time they react to a situation, whatever that may be, they learn from it, and they’re able to execute it better than the first time that they did it. But I have a lot of confidence in our young guys. We’ll just keep on rolling along with them.”

So far this season, the Giants are allowing 19.7 receptions per game, seventh-best in the NFL, and are in the middle of the pack when it comes to passing yards allowed (223.7).

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6 questions with the enemy

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Geno Smith has been great thus far this season. While not quite as productive as he was in the first five games of 2022, Smith has done a much better job of protecting the ball, which was a major issue in the second half of last season. So far he’s only thrown one interception in three games and 103 attempts. He stared down Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a slant and got picked off by Deion Jones. Aside from that one glaring mistake he’s been just the right mix of aggressive and cautious, taking what the defense gives him while also pushing them downfield.

Julian Love played brilliantly last week against the Panthers, but the first two games of the season were pretty rough. Again, I don’t really blame him for it — I think schematically the safeties have been put at a disadvantage in coverage. I expect that Love will continue getting significant playing time even with Jamal Adams coming back into the lineup. Once they get these Xs and Os issues figured out (they always do by midseason) he’ll be fine.

Mario Edwards was quiet the first two games but he totally blew up against Carolina. While he still doesn’t have any sacks yet he managed to get nine pressures against the Panthers, which was a team high on a day when the whole rotation was cooking. Obviously, we’d like to see more of that going forward. Jarran Reed has been playing out of his mind, so if Edwards and Dre’Mont Jones get going too this will be a strong line across the board.

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Giants’ Andrew Thomas out, Saquon Barkley doubtful vs. Seahawks

The New York Giants had hoped that left tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring) would be available on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks, but that won’t be the case.

After participating in practice on Thursday, Thomas sat out on both Friday and Saturday. Head coach Brian Daboll refused to call it a setback but that’s clearly what it is.

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After previously calling Thomas’ injury day-to-day, Daboll now says it’s week-to-week.

Meanwhile, despite practicing on at least a limited basis in each practice this week, running back Saquon Barkley (ankle) will be a game-time decision in Week 4.

“Andrew won’t (play). He practiced a little bit in individual two days ago, just wasn’t feeling right, didn’t practice him yesterday. He won’t make the game,” Daboll told reporters.

“Saquon will practice, do a little bit more. We’ll see where he’s at and take it right up to game time. Those are our only two people.”

The good news for Big Blue is that linebacker Azeez Ojulari (hamstring) will make his return to the field.

Full injury reports for both the Giants and Seahawks can be found below:

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Out: LT Andrew Thomas (hamstring)

Doubtful: RB Saquon Barkley (ankle)

Questionable: N/A

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Out: N/A

Doubtful: N/A

Questionable: N/A

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