Giants Brian Daboll, Mike Kafka Earn Middle of the Pack Ranking from The 33rd Team
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In 2022, New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, working together on the same staff for the first time, put together an offensive system that helped quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley have the best seasons of their respective careers. Barkley rushed for a career-high 1,312 yards, and Jones threw for a career-high 3,205 yards, achieving the best quarterback rating (92.5).
Unfortunately, the Giants couldn't repeat that production in 2023, the second year of the Daboll era. Injuries played a large part: Jones only appeared in six games due to neck and knee injuries, while Barkley missed three early season games with a high ankle sprain. The Giants offense tumbled from 18th in the league in 2022 to 29th in 2023.
Yet despite that fall, Daboll and Kafka landed in the middle of the pack--16th to be exact--among NFL play callers, as ranked by The 33rd Team's Film Analyst Derrik Klassen, who wrote of being impressed by the duo for coming in during that first season and immediately getting Jones to resemble the quarterback the franchise hoped it was getting when it drafted the former Duke quarterback sixth overall in 2019.
Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka probably deserve to be higher on this list, I know. Daboll got Josh Allen rolling in Buffalo and got the most out of Daniel Jones in 2022. The way Daboll and Kafka crafted the New York Giants offense around Jones' strengths — quarterback run game and quick passing — were phenomenal.
Unfortunately, all of that fell away in 2023. The offense added talent but got worse along the offensive line, which cratered the whole thing. At their best, Daboll and Kafka are probably top-10. I just want to see it again after how disastrous last season was.
While injuries to their offensive line certainly made things challenging for Daboll and Kafka this past season, the entire coaching staff is aware of this being a results-orientated business.
Daboll and Kafka, the latter of whom was promoted to assistant head coach after failing to land a head coaching job in this last hiring cycle, will look to get the offense back to resembling the 2022 version but with more improvements as the front office looks to boost the talent on that side of the ball to make the offense more explosive and efficient.
