The New York Giants are off to a great start this season. They’ve only lost one game through six weeks and they have one of the best defenses in the league.
Head coach Brian Daboll continues to garner praise for the job he’s doing, but perhaps Don “Wink” Martindale deserves some of that credit as well.
Brian Baldinger of the Audacy Original Podcast “In The Huddle” talked about how Martindale is unleashing the power of the Giants' defense this season.
“When you look at the Giants – I’ve been a friend of Wink Martindale for a long time and he always wanted to be a head coach, always, one of those guys. Whether he gets a chance or not, who knows,” Baldinger said (13:57 in player above). “The one thing he does, he knows how to talk to players man to man.”
Martindale started his NFL coaching career in 2004 as the linebackers coach for the Raiders. He held that same position for the Broncos in 2009 before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2010. Since then, Martindale held both of those positions with the Super Bowl-winning Ravens in the 2010s.
This is his first year with the Giants and he’s already making a difference.
“You get a guy like Dexter Lawrence – top-flight pick, a stud out of Clemson, hadn’t really done much. Looks like an all-world player right now. He said ‘I just looked at him and Big Cat Williams and I said both of you guys should be in the Pro Bowl.’ They’ve never been in the Pro Bowl. None of them have. Fifth pick in the draft. 12th pick in the draft. Never been to the Pro Bowl,” Baldinger continued.
“He said ‘If you guys aren’t in the Pro Bowl this year, that’s on me. That’s my job. My job is to unleash the power within you.’ And those guys are playing dominant football up front. Now, what they’re doing with Kayvon and Julian Love, and Xavier McKinney, it’s really good. It’s really good. These teams can’t score against them when they have to score. Kayvon got the ball out of Lamar Jackson’s hands.”
The Giants have only allowed 18.8 points per game this season, the seventh-best mark in the league. They’re up there with other teams that were expected to be contenders coming into this season.
They’re only averaging 21.2 points per game offensively, right in the middle of the pack, but they’ve been able to get multiple players involved.
“They struggle offensively, Carl, because they’re not that good, but my golly, two rookies last week, Wan’Dale Robinson out of Kentucky, Daniel Bellinger out of San Diego State. They scored touchdowns. I can’t remember the last time the Giants had two rookies score touchdowns in a game. Maybe Parcells had a couple that did it, it’s been a long time,” Baldinger said. “They hang in there and then they’re not beating themselves right now, Carl. That quarterback, that’s what he’s done. He’s been a turnover machine the first four years. He’s not doing that right now. It’s the ultimate coaching job in this league by Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale.”
Jones had 29 interceptions in 38 games over his first three seasons. He only has two in six games so far this season as the Giants are taking care of the football.
The Giants will look to keep up their impressive start this weekend when they travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars.
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