Ex-Giants DC Wink Martindale Throws Shade at Former Team

The New York Giants’ season has once again hit the skids after their fourth straight loss to the Washington Commanders, which now gives them a 2-7 record. With the sixth such start in the last eight years, Wink Martindale, the team’s defensive coordinator during the 2022 and 2023 seasons whose acrimonious departure from the franchise made headlines, appears to be reveling in the Giants’ misery.

Martindale, now the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan, took a verbal swipe at the Giants and his old boss, head coach Brian Daboll during his recent press briefing ahead of the school’s next game with Indiana when asked about his own personal coaching future.  

“I haven’t really sat down and thought about the long haul,” Martindale said. “When you’re 61, you just try to think about tomorrow.”

“But, I’m glad that I’m here. I love the players that we have, you know it’s obviously a different game, but it’s a lot better than being in some places that are 2-7.” 

The snarky comment by Martindale shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given how his breakup with the Giants went down. After the lackluster campaign that left New York out of the postseason for the sixth time in eight seasons, Martindale reportedly got into a heated screaming match with Daboll after Daboll informed the defensive coach of his intention to fire Kevin and Drew Wilkins, two of Martindale’s most trusted coaching assistants. 

Martindale then stormed out of the Giants facility, resigning his post. His resignation wasn’t finalized until days later and only through his agent.  

In the first year of his tenure, Martindale’s defense was one of the best on third downs and holding down the fort near the endzone. It helped them win a lot of close games en route to their postseason berth in 2022, but the heavy use of blitzes and creative pressures often left the back end of their unit on an island and the Giants towards the bottom half of the league in total yardage allowed. 

The 2023 season wasn’t any better, as the Giants would fall to 26th and 27th in total points and yards, respectively, and hold a glaring point differential of -141 which was their second-worst number in the last five seasons. They also gave up a combined 25 touchdowns and got shredded by opposing rushing efforts for a 4.7-yard average carry which was good for the 30th-most in the NFL. 

Daboll hired Shane Bowen this year to replace Martindale. Bowen’s defense, which is completely opposite to what Martindale ran, has focused more on creating pressure from the front four and giving extra coverage help to the secondary. This has benefited the team inside the confines of the red zone, where they rank fifth in opponent scoring percentage. 

The Giants are top-15 in most passing categories, but are still struggling at slowing down the run where they are dead last in the league and allow opponents to control the clock with the lead in their hands. 

The Giants offense hasn’t done Bowen’s crew any favors either. New York has held opponents to the 15th fewest points per game this season which is a vast improvement from Martindale’s second season and includes four games of less than 20 points allowed to the other side. 

Yet, they’ve only scored 13 touchdowns in the same span and had only notched one at home before quarterback Daniel Jones’ two aerial scoring throws in the 27-22 loss to the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium last Sunday.

The stats have looked better on the road, but the lack of consistent production has kept the Giants at a league-worst 15.4 points average and forced them into six losses by 10 points or less. 

It hasn’t worked out that much better in the record books for Martindale’s defense in Ann Arbor. They barely rank in the top 25 teams in Division-1 college football in the major defensive categories but are hanging around some of the best in total tackles and defensive interceptions with six. 

Daboll and the Giants, who are playing a weekend game in Munich, Germany coming up against the Carolina Panthers, obviously have bigger things to worry about than a former employee’s delight in their struggles.