Interim coach Mike Kafka has no regrets about aggressive fourth-down call in Giants’ loss to Lions

DETROIT (AP) — Mike Kafka saw no point in second-guessing himself.

In his second game as the New York Giants interim coach, Kafka made a bold decision that ended up costing his team.

With 3:07 left against the Lions on Sunday, the Giants were leading 27-24 and had the ball deep in Detroit territory. On third-and-goal from the 2, New York went with a sweep to Devin Singletary, but the Lions wrecked it for a 4-yard loss and called timeout.

The safe decision at that point would have been to kick a field goal, take a 30-24 lead, and force the Lions to score a touchdown to win the game. Kafka decided to go for it, and Jameis Winston threw incomplete to Theo Johnson, ending a 14-play, 86-yard drive with no points.

“We’re trying to win the game, so we want to score as many points as possible,” Kafka said. “We thought that was a place to be aggressive.”

Detroit tied it with Jake Bates’ 59-yard field goal and won 34-27 on Jahmyr Gibbs’ 69-yard touchdown run in overtime.

Kafka’s bold strategy, and his postgame explanation, echoed a past coach in the unforgiving New York media market: the Jets’ Herm Edwards, who in 2002 famously ranted, “You play to win the game! Hello? You play to win the game.”

Or perhaps Kafka was emulating a man who shares his name, the Czech writer Franz Kafka, who once said: “Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion.”

Mike Kafka at least gave some thought to the watered-down approach.

“There are times in the game where you have to decide if you want to kick a field goal or go for a touchdown,” Kafka said. “Obviously, going to fourth-and-6 was a factor in the call.”

Earlier in the game, Kafka played it safe in a similar situation. On fourth-and-goal from the 3, Younghoe Koo kicked a 21-yard field goal on the last play of the first quarter.

“That didn’t have anything to do with our decision in the fourth quarter,” Kafka said. “You take every situation as it comes, and you do what you think is right, no matter what happened before.”

Winston, filling in for injured rookie Jaxson Dart, was having a huge day against a banged-up Detroit secondary. He finished 18 of 36 for 366 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.

So Kafka was comfortable asking him to make a play. For a moment, tight end Johnson flashed open in the end zone, but Rock Ya-Sin got back to break up the pass.

Kafka, though, stood by the decision.

“We wanted to be aggressive today,” Kafka said. “That call was part of the way we decided to play. I thought it was the correct decision when I made it and I stand by that.”

The Giants (2-10) have blown five double-digit leads in the fourth quarter. The previous four happened under coach Brian Daboll, who was fired on Nov. 10 and replaced by Kafka.

The interim coach saw positives for the future after this latest loss.

“That was a great challenge against a really good team,” he said. “We need to find a way to close these games out, but I believe we have the players to do it.”

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