October 16, 2025 • 9 mins
Assistant Head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Kafka speaks to the media Thursday from the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I guess. So some of the challenges going against this
defense Sunday.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Yeah, so this is a great group. Started with their
defensive coordinator, you know, Vance Joseph, who have a lot
of respect for. He does a really good job, very
well coached schematically to throw a lot at you. Zone coverages,
man coverages, different variation of fronts. So there's a there's
a lot of things that really at all three levels
that you got to worry about. Then you you tack
that on with with the with the players they have
(00:25):
and the production they're having not only rushing the passer,
but the third down in the red zone. You know,
a lot of key factors. So we really got to
be dial into the program this week understanding who we're playing,
the guys that are there, how they play their certain techniques.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We have to be fundamentally sound. But it's gonna be
a great challenge.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Jackson's a pretty confident, calm kid at least for what
we get to see.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How does a prime time win I guess help acky
quarterback or kind of what have you seen impact town?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was I thought it was a good I mean
did a nice job last week, and that's one thing
we got to be able to learn from is you know,
the things that don't go as well quite as well
the things that do that go well, and take those
bank that as an experience. No different than you know,
we were talking, you know, a couple of weeks back
in the New Orleans when that was wasn't as great.
You know, so I think it's an experience. It was
(01:13):
a good experience. We won the game, we did some
we did some nice things offensively. You got to bank
it and then you got to get right back to work.
It's a you know, the season just moves so fast
that you know, you got to take the good things,
keep out stacking and building off of them. And then
the things that we can do improve on, we got
to apply that and focusing out and really dial into
you know, how do we improve on those aspects. How
much different does Jackson and Cam's personality and the way
(01:38):
their physicality really the way they play, how much different
field does it give the offense or a different look?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
They they're football players. You know, I think we have
a bunch of those guys on offense. I know you
singled out two of them, but I think we have
all eleven all the guys that we put out there,
their football players are tough. I think that's you know,
you know, a tip of the captain Joe and Daves
and getting the right guys in here that that play
the game that way, and you know they're certainly expressing
themselves that way in the football field, and that's that's great, Like,
(02:07):
that's what we want. We want our guys playing tough,
playing smart. You know, we don't want the penalties and
the pre snap stuff and even the post snap stuff
like we can't have that. But the certain mentality that
you want to play with, the aggressiveness that you want
to play and coach with is is there.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
And those guys are doing a great job at the
quarterback right, he's the natural leader. Just fight position.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Then you know, send the I don't know, a viver
feeling to everyone else around you.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You believe, yeah, whenever, whenever your leadership and the quarterback,
particularly because he's touching the ball every play. When you
have that kind of spark, you have that kind of
energy that you bring not only just to the huddle
to the field, but when you're like that way in
the meetings and you're like that way in the hallway
in the locker room and you know, talking with the
coaches and talking with the staff and talking with the
people around the building. Absolutely that brings it raises everyone's
(02:59):
love speeding.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And its obviously how much has Andrew Thomas being held
the impact, you know, being more physical in the run game,
and also Jackson's confidence in the pocket and he had
a left tackle who's not really allowed much pressure on him.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, he's been It's been great to have him back
and get him in, get him in the mix, and
you know he can kind of rat him up early,
but he's done a great job and it's no surprise
to any of us. He goes in there, he goes
to work, puts in the work, and as far as
his details, watching the tape, understanding what we got to
do schematically, what we have to do for our for
our plan, but then also who the opponent he's going against,
(03:32):
and you know BNDO those guys are. He's a phenomenal
pass rusher leading the league in sacks. So we'll have
a great test out there and uh, you know we'll
continue to work on that today.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
How much do you think he's helped he's last three weeks,
But as far as just his impact, just him playing
every Snow, how much does he helped his offense elevated more?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, I know it's a hard one to answer because
I just really believe that, I mean, offense is a
eleven man operation. It's not just one guy. I mean,
everyone's got to work together on it. If you have
all if ten guys doing their job, but then one
guy doesn't, it's probably gonna be a bad play. And
you know, so we need to make sure that all
them guys are doing their job, we're all in sync.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's not about one guy, it's about the whole core group.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Like you, it's no secret, guess with a quarterback you
want to run the ball. You know your team's built
to run the ball. Do you kind of do like
the worst case scenarios and like, okay, let's say they
come out and take the run away from us and
determined to do that. And if you do that, you know,
you think Jackson in this passing game, can you know,
survive and win a game if they can't rely on
(04:32):
their run?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You know, if it's like, Okay, the rookie's got to
now throw us into our victory.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, that's part of that's part of our job as
a coaching staff is to have enough complimentary stuff, not
only just in the wrung game in the past game,
but then myself as a play caller really studying and
trying to understand what the depose coordinators trying to do.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And then have have a plan in place that we
can get to.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Whether it's plays, whether it's a package of plays, you know,
it could be a variety of things. But yeah, we
we certainly have to have contingency plans on if they
do this, what do we do?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
What's our answer?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And that's what we do all week as we talk
about it and and talk through all, right, what happens
if you know, this person does this or this person
goes down. Even you know we're talking about our substitutions.
All those things kind of you know, play into it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Went in the decision to go with LJ and such
a big role and what did you see from him?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, LJ did a nice job throughout the preseason and
he was on the practice squad and you know him
having an opportunity with some veteran presence there. He's a
really smart player, he's big, he's had the ability to
go get the ball. You saw a couple of examples
of that in Philly, and uh, yeah, we're really excited
about LJ. And I think he's got a lot of trust.
He's had a lot of time on task with Jackson,
you know, throughout the course of training camp and the
(05:40):
spring and stuff and even in the preseason, so there
was there was some comfortability in there.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Mich Hope. Sure.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Have you changed a lot of the route concepts since
Jackson has taken over compared the way you had what
Russell was playing. I wouldn't say necessarily like the route concepts.
The offense that we put in is our is our
core offense. You know, there's certain things that you want
to do to accentuate certain players, you know, from the
skill position group, from a line group, and then some
things that you want to carry over that the quarterback has,
(06:08):
you know, really good comfort and so every.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Quarterback is gonna be a little bit different. You look
at across the league.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You know, certain guys, the offense looks one way with
a certain quarterback, then all of a sudden that guy
gets hurt or not another guy comes in. You've got
to be able to mesh to it. So you know,
we've had some experience around here doing that with a
few quarterbacks. So you know, I'm glad that you know,
you know, we got to put the other good plan
for Jackson. But that's that's part of it, you know,
that's part of the deal. That's part of the deal
on offense, and that's that's the fun part, honestly, when
(06:35):
you can get different players in different spots and really
trying to make them the best they can do. Take
more mor Zeum for us in that backup role, and
Russ has done a great job. I mean, he's he's
dialed in, he's prepared, not only just for his own job,
but then also helping Jackson being in the room and
expressing his experiences which he has a lot of great
ones to lean on. He's been a great resource for me.
(06:57):
He's been a great resource for the quarterback room and accent,
and I mean he does a great job. He's a
captain of the team as well, so you know, all
that carries that Russ has been phenomenal quarterback.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Season of first first win on the road.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Is that something that you know, quarterback has to put
me notch on it? Spaill, I certainly don't view it
that way. I just think of it this week, you know,
really just focused.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
On today is getting our third down playing, you know,
talking through our shortyarded stuff. Really just down into today.
All that other stuff. I think we'll you know, we'll
have to worry about that on Sunday. But right now
we're just focused on you know what's what's most important.
That's you know, our third down in practice today.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
What have you learned from Ross? You say is a
great resource? What is he kind of taught you?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I mean he certainly has had a lot of
different I mean we both played, which is cool, but
you know, I think his experiences playing in Super Bowls,
playing in the playoff games, playing in potent like down
season when things happened. You know, we've just it's been
great to just hear certain stories and how they got
back on track or you know, things that they wish
he as she would have done.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So it's just when you're talking about thirteen fourteen year
vets between him and Jamis, there's a lot of experience
in that room, and they've all had a variety of experiences.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
That we can all lean on.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So you know, there's there are certain times where we
get caught up just telling stories and you just see
the other guys, whether it's Jackson or you know, young
guys in the room just kind of soaking it all
in listening. So, I mean, it's just he's been a
great resource in terms of that just being able to
share experiences because you know, you don't really know as
a player. You don't really it's hard to sometimes get
(08:31):
all that you know as a young player. So when
you hear it from other guys, oh man, like you
can bank that maybe it might not happen for a
couple of years, but you know, you remember that story.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I know I certainly do as a player being in.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
There with you know, Josh McCown and Mike Glennon and
you know even one of my time in Philadelphia with
Michael Vick or you know, with Brady when I was
in New England and Vince Youngbick. I can go down
the list of this the stories that you talked through
in the quarterback room that you bank, Oh my god,
I remember that happened to sell and so so you know,
maybe you're more prepared for another situation if it comes
(09:03):
up
I guess. So some of the challenges going against this
defense Sunday.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Yeah, so this is a great group. Started with their
defensive coordinator, you know, Vance Joseph, who have a lot
of respect for. He does a really good job, very
well coached schematically to throw a lot at you. Zone coverages,
man coverages, different variation of fronts. So there's a there's
a lot of things that really at all three levels
that you got to worry about. Then you you tack
that on with with the with the players they have
(00:25):
and the production they're having not only rushing the passer,
but the third down in the red zone. You know,
a lot of key factors. So we really got to
be dial into the program this week understanding who we're playing,
the guys that are there, how they play their certain techniques.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We have to be fundamentally sound. But it's gonna be
a great challenge.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Jackson's a pretty confident, calm kid at least for what
we get to see.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How does a prime time win I guess help acky
quarterback or kind of what have you seen impact town?
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was I thought it was a good I mean
did a nice job last week, and that's one thing
we got to be able to learn from is you know,
the things that don't go as well quite as well
the things that do that go well, and take those
bank that as an experience. No different than you know,
we were talking, you know, a couple of weeks back
in the New Orleans when that was wasn't as great.
You know, so I think it's an experience. It was
(01:13):
a good experience. We won the game, we did some
we did some nice things offensively. You got to bank
it and then you got to get right back to work.
It's a you know, the season just moves so fast
that you know, you got to take the good things,
keep out stacking and building off of them. And then
the things that we can do improve on, we got
to apply that and focusing out and really dial into
you know, how do we improve on those aspects. How
much different does Jackson and Cam's personality and the way
(01:38):
their physicality really the way they play, how much different
field does it give the offense or a different look?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, they do.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
They they're football players. You know, I think we have
a bunch of those guys on offense. I know you
singled out two of them, but I think we have
all eleven all the guys that we put out there,
their football players are tough. I think that's you know,
you know, a tip of the captain Joe and Daves
and getting the right guys in here that that play
the game that way, and you know they're certainly expressing
themselves that way in the football field, and that's that's great, Like,
(02:07):
that's what we want. We want our guys playing tough,
playing smart. You know, we don't want the penalties and
the pre snap stuff and even the post snap stuff
like we can't have that. But the certain mentality that
you want to play with, the aggressiveness that you want
to play and coach with is is there.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
And those guys are doing a great job at the
quarterback right, he's the natural leader. Just fight position.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Then you know, send the I don't know, a viver
feeling to everyone else around you.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
You believe, yeah, whenever, whenever your leadership and the quarterback,
particularly because he's touching the ball every play. When you
have that kind of spark, you have that kind of
energy that you bring not only just to the huddle
to the field, but when you're like that way in
the meetings and you're like that way in the hallway
in the locker room and you know, talking with the
coaches and talking with the staff and talking with the
people around the building. Absolutely that brings it raises everyone's
(02:59):
love speeding.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
And its obviously how much has Andrew Thomas being held
the impact, you know, being more physical in the run game,
and also Jackson's confidence in the pocket and he had
a left tackle who's not really allowed much pressure on him.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, he's been It's been great to have him back
and get him in, get him in the mix, and
you know he can kind of rat him up early,
but he's done a great job and it's no surprise
to any of us. He goes in there, he goes
to work, puts in the work, and as far as
his details, watching the tape, understanding what we got to
do schematically, what we have to do for our for
our plan, but then also who the opponent he's going against,
(03:32):
and you know BNDO those guys are. He's a phenomenal
pass rusher leading the league in sacks. So we'll have
a great test out there and uh, you know we'll
continue to work on that today.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
How much do you think he's helped he's last three weeks,
But as far as just his impact, just him playing
every Snow, how much does he helped his offense elevated more?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, I know it's a hard one to answer because
I just really believe that, I mean, offense is a
eleven man operation. It's not just one guy. I mean,
everyone's got to work together on it. If you have
all if ten guys doing their job, but then one
guy doesn't, it's probably gonna be a bad play. And
you know, so we need to make sure that all
them guys are doing their job, we're all in sync.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's not about one guy, it's about the whole core group.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Like you, it's no secret, guess with a quarterback you
want to run the ball. You know your team's built
to run the ball. Do you kind of do like
the worst case scenarios and like, okay, let's say they
come out and take the run away from us and
determined to do that. And if you do that, you know,
you think Jackson in this passing game, can you know,
survive and win a game if they can't rely on
(04:32):
their run?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
You know, if it's like, Okay, the rookie's got to
now throw us into our victory.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, that's part of that's part of our job as
a coaching staff is to have enough complimentary stuff, not
only just in the wrung game in the past game,
but then myself as a play caller really studying and
trying to understand what the depose coordinators trying to do.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And then have have a plan in place that we
can get to.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Whether it's plays, whether it's a package of plays, you know,
it could be a variety of things. But yeah, we
we certainly have to have contingency plans on if they
do this, what do we do?
Speaker 1 (05:00):
What's our answer?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And that's what we do all week as we talk
about it and and talk through all, right, what happens
if you know, this person does this or this person
goes down. Even you know we're talking about our substitutions.
All those things kind of you know, play into it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Went in the decision to go with LJ and such
a big role and what did you see from him?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, LJ did a nice job throughout the preseason and
he was on the practice squad and you know him
having an opportunity with some veteran presence there. He's a
really smart player, he's big, he's had the ability to
go get the ball. You saw a couple of examples
of that in Philly, and uh, yeah, we're really excited
about LJ. And I think he's got a lot of trust.
He's had a lot of time on task with Jackson,
you know, throughout the course of training camp and the
(05:40):
spring and stuff and even in the preseason, so there
was there was some comfortability in there.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Mich Hope. Sure.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Have you changed a lot of the route concepts since
Jackson has taken over compared the way you had what
Russell was playing. I wouldn't say necessarily like the route concepts.
The offense that we put in is our is our
core offense. You know, there's certain things that you want
to do to accentuate certain players, you know, from the
skill position group, from a line group, and then some
things that you want to carry over that the quarterback has,
(06:08):
you know, really good comfort and so every.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Quarterback is gonna be a little bit different. You look
at across the league.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
You know, certain guys, the offense looks one way with
a certain quarterback, then all of a sudden that guy
gets hurt or not another guy comes in. You've got
to be able to mesh to it. So you know,
we've had some experience around here doing that with a
few quarterbacks. So you know, I'm glad that you know,
you know, we got to put the other good plan
for Jackson. But that's that's part of it, you know,
that's part of the deal. That's part of the deal
on offense, and that's that's the fun part, honestly, when
(06:35):
you can get different players in different spots and really
trying to make them the best they can do. Take
more mor Zeum for us in that backup role, and
Russ has done a great job. I mean, he's he's
dialed in, he's prepared, not only just for his own job,
but then also helping Jackson being in the room and
expressing his experiences which he has a lot of great
ones to lean on. He's been a great resource for me.
(06:57):
He's been a great resource for the quarterback room and accent,
and I mean he does a great job. He's a
captain of the team as well, so you know, all
that carries that Russ has been phenomenal quarterback.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Season of first first win on the road.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Is that something that you know, quarterback has to put
me notch on it? Spaill, I certainly don't view it
that way. I just think of it this week, you know,
really just focused.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
On today is getting our third down playing, you know,
talking through our shortyarded stuff. Really just down into today.
All that other stuff. I think we'll you know, we'll
have to worry about that on Sunday. But right now
we're just focused on you know what's what's most important.
That's you know, our third down in practice today.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
What have you learned from Ross? You say is a
great resource? What is he kind of taught you?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Yeah, I mean he certainly has had a lot of
different I mean we both played, which is cool, but
you know, I think his experiences playing in Super Bowls,
playing in the playoff games, playing in potent like down
season when things happened. You know, we've just it's been
great to just hear certain stories and how they got
back on track or you know, things that they wish
he as she would have done.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So it's just when you're talking about thirteen fourteen year
vets between him and Jamis, there's a lot of experience
in that room, and they've all had a variety of experiences.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
That we can all lean on.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
So you know, there's there are certain times where we
get caught up just telling stories and you just see
the other guys, whether it's Jackson or you know, young
guys in the room just kind of soaking it all
in listening. So, I mean, it's just he's been a
great resource in terms of that just being able to
share experiences because you know, you don't really know as
a player. You don't really it's hard to sometimes get
(08:31):
all that you know as a young player. So when
you hear it from other guys, oh man, like you
can bank that maybe it might not happen for a
couple of years, but you know, you remember that story.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
I know I certainly do as a player being in.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
There with you know, Josh McCown and Mike Glennon and
you know even one of my time in Philadelphia with
Michael Vick or you know, with Brady when I was
in New England and Vince Youngbick. I can go down
the list of this the stories that you talked through
in the quarterback room that you bank, Oh my god,
I remember that happened to sell and so so you know,
maybe you're more prepared for another situation if it comes
(09:03):
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