Mike Kafka’s decision to elevate Tim Kelly from New York Giants tight ends coach to offensive coordinator rather than giving that responsibility to quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney likely surprised some.
When you take a closer look, though, it makes sense. Tierney has never been a coordinator and was a Brian Daboll protege. Kelly is a former offensive coordinator with the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans whose talents were perhaps not being fully utilized just coaching tight ends.
“Really smart coach
to help us tie in the run game and the pass game,” Kafka said on Wednesday in announcing the appointment. “Does a great job with a lot of good experiences to bank on.”
Kelly, 39, met with media on Thursday for the first time in his new role. Here’s how he described his added responsibilities:
“More involved with the totality of the game plan. Previously more focused on the run game. But now being able to go and figure out how we want to be able to attack opponents in the pass game also. Making sure tying everything together and doing everything we can for Coach (interim head coach Mike) Kafka to kind of set the table.
Kafka will continue as the offensive play caller. Kelly will be on the sideline in a supporting role.
“I think when you’re on the sideline, whatever the role is, you’re always kind of thinking what you can do next to try and help put some points on the board,” Kelly said. “So being more involved in that, in game adjustments. What looks good, what’s coming down the pike here in terms of the next series, things along those lines and making sure our guys are ready to go execute.”
Kelly was offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans when the team made a midseason coaching change from Bill O’Brien to Romeo Crennel. He knows the drill.
“You got about ten minutes, right? And then the rest of the league doesn’t really care,” Kelly said. “So, it’s hard to take the personal element out of it. But you find out quickly like, here we go, Green Bay’s coming to town. And they don’t really care what we’re going through.
“So have to be able to kind of deal with it in your own way, in your own time. But make sure that you’re getting back to neutral so you can go and put together a good plan for the guys so they can go out and win a game in a few days.”
Now that he is handling the tight ends and the offensive coordinator duties Kelly said there will be “a little less sleep for me.”
“There’s enough time in the day,” he said. “Just got to figure out what my cadence is going to be, what my rhythm and my routine, to make sure that the guys in the tight end room are as prepared as possible. And making sure that we put together a good plan for our unit.”
What will change for players with a Kafka/Kelly combination rather than a Daboll/Kafka duo?
“I think most of the change will probably occur behind the scenes in terms of how we put the plan together,” Kelly said. “They’ll probably hear my voice in the big room a little bit more than they have throughout the first however many weeks. But it’s still the same vision. We’re still here to make sure we’re putting our guys in the best position possible. It’s not like there’s going to be a dramatic shift in anything. And again, let our guys understand what the plan is. Be able to go out there and play fast and really execute at a high level.”
We begin to find out on Sunday whether or not they can accomplish that.
