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December 24, 2025 • 11 mins

Interim head coach Mike Kafka speaks to the media Wednesday from the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy holidays, Mary, Chris, is everybody absolutely just on the
injury front. I'll just give it here right now. Is so,
dj Evan Nuban, j MS and a T. They will
will rest them today. They won't go today. Everyone else
will get some work done. You said, dj Evan Nuban,

(00:22):
JMS and Andrew Thomas.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Do you have a feel at all over Andrew? Is
that more rest or? Is that more the hamster and whatnot?

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, he's not gonna go today. Well, this kind of
see how it feels. And you know, he's got a
couple of days here to see how it looks.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
When has it become best just to shut guys down?
You know, there's two games left. If not to be
able to make it this week, is it worth you know,
rushing him back for the finale or anything?

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Well, yeah, I think we'll just we'll look at and
see where the extent of the injury is and then
just you know, give him a couple of days here
and then evaluate it and then make a decision. Same
with MS, same thing. Yeah, yeah, I mean I think
we just got to see the see how he responds
to the treatment, you know, and then by Thursday Friday,
well the field. What do you want to see.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
From from Jackson?

Speaker 4 (01:15):
Kind of bounce back game.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I guess yeah, really, Jackson, the whole offensive unit, myself,
we all are you know. Obviously last week's performance wasn't
to our standard, right, so we got we came back
to work today and yesterday dialed in on the game
plan and emphasized, you know, the things that we need
to get corrected. And then today's a great day because
yesterday it was kind of a walk through tempo. So
he's a great day, a good work day in terms

(01:38):
of get out of the field full speed, the timing,
the rhythm, the communication, ramping that up as well, we're
inside well, the crowd noise, so there'll be a few
different elements off to work through. So I'm expecting anticipating
a good, good work to day. Were you curious to
see how he came back from that game? I mean,
you know, you guys have you know you've been in
the game long enough to look down and helps him down.

(01:58):
So this is sort of his first No, I wouldn't
say I was curious. I knew exactly how he would respond,
like he'd responded to anything, the highs, the lows, who's
respond the same way, with great attention to detail, urgency
to get better. And so Jackson's had that approach. Our
whole offense to that approach, and he's the leader of
the ship and they're going to follow his direction and
and and the leaders that we have on offense. So again,
one of those days today where you know it should

(02:20):
be a lively practice for you.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
How do you view like that coach quarterback ladship. Obviously
you've had it with Mahomes and now Jackson, how do
you view how important that is to just kind of
develop guy, just kind of help the quarterback get through
these highs and lows as as a young quarterback.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Again, it's extremely important. It's extremely important because you know,
I've been in those situations, but you know, seeing the
game through through the helmet that way and be able
to give him my experiences, be able to go through
not only as a player, but also as a coach
and seeing having to go through those ebbs and flows
of a season or a game, or a quarter or
a series or a play. You know, you can kind
of dial it down to you know, a couple of

(02:55):
different scenarios. So and we have a great resource and
great resources in that room as well, Shay Coach Tierney
does a great job the veterans that we have in
that room be able to get feedback as well. And
for Jackson and for any young player, like they're absorbing
that information, they're making it their own, they're making their
corrections themselves, and then they're going out and applying it
to the practice field.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
You're obviously communicating with Jackson all the time, but when
he has a game like he had, you know, all
you guys had, But obviously he talked after the game.
He's never had an experience like that before, and do
you find out how do you handle that? In terms
of speaking you're speaking them all the time, but is
the are there different pointed messages that you give him
after a game like that and then say, you know,
game that he had had more success in.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
I think the messaging is consistent. The highs and the lows,
they're all consistent. Where are the opportunities that we can
learn from, Where the opportunities we can grow from. And
there's plenty of things that he did well in that
game too, whether it was in and out of alerts, operation,
at the line of scrimmage. Sure, there's things that we
can improve on just like there is every single game.
So I think the consistency of that dialogue and really

(03:55):
we're the points of emphasis for that game, putting that
kind of turn the page, and now what can we
do to apply those same learning tools to this game
because this is a different team, this is a different scheme. Yeah,
there may be similar pressures, there may be similar fronts
and structures, but this is a different group. This is
a different game entirety. So making sure that we kind
of compartmentalize that game and now what's the focus for

(04:17):
this game and turn the page and putting together a
great plan and having a great practice routine and great
practice schedule so we can have a good game this week,
not getting way too much.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
You know, like you said, they're a different team.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
I'm sure this is going to be a little bit
of a different game plan than than what you had
run heavy last time. It's I mean every week is different,
you know, every week is different. And I think whenever
we can take advantage of whether it's our personnel, their personnel,
our scheme, their scheme, We're gonna look at that and
you know, every game is going to be a little
bit different. Whatever we think is the best way to
attack them, and the best will give us the best

(04:49):
chances to win the game. That's what we'll try and do.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
How much have you had to talk to him about
allowing him to sort of play his games like freelance style.
There was a post he liked that seemed to suggest, Uh,
he's not able to fully play his game.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
I'm not sure I got the post like, I'm not
sure I saw that post. All I know is that
I give We want to give our players we want.
We don't ever want to have our players in a
box and put them in a box. So we want
to give our players the ability to express themselves on
the field to the best of their abilities and let
their let their natural ability show. But sure, we have

(05:27):
framework within the offense, within our offensive system that has
certain rules that we have to work through, right, and
so you take those rules and then you give it
to the players, and then they elevate it and they
put their own stamp on it, and they make it
their own they and they make it great.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
So from your perspective, you haven't heard that from him
like that. He's frustrated with no.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
No, we have we talk every we talk almost every
day on a personal level and then obviously in the
football level. But you know, we have those discussions about
how the game could have went or should have win,
or things that we can get corrected together. And again
I'm right there, arm in arm with them in terms of,
you know, our operation, how we're going to play on offense,
Like we say it's eleven man operation. I'm like kind

(06:04):
of the twelfth man of that, right like in our
coaching staff's an extension of me as well. So we're
all in this thing together. We're all want everyone to
have their best games, want everyone to play well, but
every game is to be different, and so it's going
to take a certain certain things on certain games to win.
And you know we've said this in the past, whether
it's running the ball thirty times, we're throwing the ball
fifty times, we don't necessarily know how it's gonna game

(06:26):
gonna declare itself. But the ability to adjust and adapt
to that scenario and then give our chance, give ourselves
a chance to win it in the fourth quarter, which
is a lot of where a lot of these football
games come down to. That's the main goal.

Speaker 4 (06:36):
Mike.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
You've obviously been the last couple of years off season
has gone through some interview processes for head coach and stuff.
I'm curious how you would characterized, you know, the things
you've learned about yourself and about doing this job in
these last five or six weeks here five.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
Weeks then, yes, I think it's been a great learning experience.
Every single day I'm grown. Every single day I learned
something new, not only about myself but about the players.
How can I continue to give my best to the
players an asset? You know? Where can I be an
asset to them? Where can I be an asset to
the coaching staff? How can I continue to serve them
the people around us and our organization? You know, how

(07:11):
can I be an asset and serve them to the
best of my ability? That's really the one thing I'm
learning as I can every single day, like where where's
the one piece I can help insert myself to help
them be better? And you know, we talk about it
a lot as the staff, and not just offensively, but
talking with the coordinators on our team and where we
need to be and what are the messaging and what
are the things that we need to talk about to

(07:31):
get the best of out of our players, Whether that's
changing things in the schedule, whether that's changing personnel groupings
or getting into certain scheme stuff, or it's just hey,
how are we going to operate in the building? You know,
how are our meetings going to sound, how are they
going to look? What does that what does the feel
of this building look like? And how is that going
to change on a weekly if we need to make
adjustments or overall, you know what we need to do

(07:52):
to be better and to continue to find a way
to win.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
You've always been you know, in front of us always
it's always been about the players. But know for you
as a head coach, you're still waiting for your first win.
How difficult has that been to not taste that yet
and and you know the drive to get that done
maybe maybe maybe that.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
Sunday winning winnings. Winnings hard in this league and we
all know that. But we know that there's also if
we do the right things offensively, defensively, special teams, we
do the right things as a staff, that we'll get
those we'll get those results. And so you know, we
have a great focus in on what's most important. That's
today and working through our critical situations, our third down,
our short yardage, you know, mixing in some two minutes

(08:32):
as well. That's going to be a huge part of
this game. So we have to be detailed. We have
to be understanding what what this game plan is and
master that game plan. That way we can apply to Sunday.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Do you at all? The one more question about that?
I just I mean it's human nature to wonder, you know,
for all of us what our future is with you know,
the next step or whatnot. Do you do you wonder
about that at all? Do you you know when it's
your having a quiet moment at home at all? Or
do you are you blocking that out and getting through
these two games?

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Like? How do you handle that?

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (08:59):
My only focus is done just on this team this
week today, because you don't have time. I don't have
time to overthink all those other things, Mike, I'm my
only focus is on the players. How can I make
them the best? My coaching staff, the staff around us,
how can I make them the best? And so that's
really the only focus. So if you think of it
that way, it keeps it really simple in your mind
and you don't have to worry about all that other

(09:19):
stuff that's just that just bogged your mind down. So
that's really where our focus is. And I'm excited every
day I come to work. I love I love my job.
Almost there but almost it's hard. I'm getting you know,
this fires me up. So I love coming to work
every day and working with everyone here. And it's it's special.
It's a special organization, this is a special team. I

(09:39):
know the results aren't where we're at, but that's in
the past. We can only focus on today and find
a way to get a win today.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
The messaging like when Tom Cofflin, he used to say
that the beginning of this Wednesday meeting, you should lay
out everything for the.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
Team, right.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
The rhetoric outside of the building is okay, the loser
here is in mind for the number one overall pick.
Do you bring that up to the guys at all?
Is it even part of your messaging, like, hey, ignore that,
don't pay attention to that, just you know, to nap
anything like that or the sort.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
I haven't. I haven't talked about it with the players.
The players want to win, the coaching staff wants to
win this week, like this is our only focus is
this week, and so are all our messaging all that
we're talking about is how we can get better number
one as a team, and then what we have to
do today to go out there to Vegas and bet the.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Raiders with them duel. The last three games, it feels
like he's gotten better and better, not just with the numbers,
for just his energy as motor. What do you say
to him and tell him you.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Know, hey, sorry, sitting again with him du bu the last.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
Three games feel like he's fine, hitting it, turning a corner.
I'll say, how do you just tell them to just
keep going and just not you know, not necessarily not
get complacent, but just keep building on this for to
end the rookie year strong for him.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
I think when you when you put in the work
and you have your you have a plan, and then
you go and have success, I think that kind of
proves to you that that's hey, this is the kind
of the recipe. There's really no substitute for for the
hard work, for the dedication of the time. And when
you put that process in, you continue to work through
that process. Because I'm sure even though he came in early,
he's looking at certain things he goes, Okay, well how

(11:06):
can I make this more efficient? Well more can I
add to that, well, maybe there's some things I can
subtract that that that I don't necessarily need that at
that point in time. So he's working through that process
as a young player. But when you see success, that's
going to continue to charge them forward and get more, Like,
where can I get more? Where's another edge I can
go grab to make myself a better player. So when
you see young players doing that like a duel and
there's you can I can go up and down the

(11:27):
roster in terms of the guys that are doing that,
you know you're going to see the results and you
got to believe that
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