Over the final few weeks of , Don “Wink” Martindale, always good for a quote, found himself talking about TV and movies. Maybe it was because they were better than anything his injury-depleted Ravens defense was putting on tape, maybe it was because he figured everyone needed a laugh, but every other week or so, the coordinator would drop a pop-culture reference from out of nowhere.
Before the Ravens’ Week 15 loss to the Packers, Martindale compared Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams to Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. After the Ravens’ Week 16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, which they’d entered with over two dozen players on either injured reserve or the reserve/COVID-19 list, Martindale joked, “I don’t know if we’re playing football or the ‘Squid Games,’” referring to Netflix’s popular show that features contestants competing in children’s games with deadly stakes.
And before the season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers, ultimately his last game in charge of the Ravens’ defense, he thought of a comedian who finds humor in brutal honesty.
“It’s been quite a season; we could probably write a book about it,” he said in early January. “It’s like a Larry David episode.”
On Sunday, when Martindale welcomes the Ravens (3-2) to MetLife Stadium, the jaunty theme song for David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” wouldn’t seem too out of place. On one sideline: Martindale, restoring the New York Giants’ defense to respectability with a ragtag group of players and an unflinching commitment to pressure. On the other: John Harbaugh, the coach , a former defensive assistant under Martindale, still searching for the success that his predecessor regularly enjoyed.
On the line: a chance for a marquee win, and a whole lot of pride. As far as storylines go, .
“Wink is a great coach, a great guy. Love him,” Ravens defensive lineman Calais Campbell, who played under Martindale for two seasons, said Wednesday. “He’s definitely going to have the troops riled up. I know this means something to him; it’s only natural. … When you go somewhere else, and you come back or get to face your old team, it definitely just gives you a little bit more of an edge. So I know this was circled on the calendar, and it’s going to be a big game.”
, with a year still remaining on his contract, was surprising, even to those around the facility. Harbaugh had questioned Martindale’s aggressive play-calling after a Week 13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers — “You go to the well too many times,” he said, referring to Martindale’s “Cover 0″ blitz schemes, “and they get you” — and the defense had struggled mightily amid injuries and illness.
But before bottoming out last season, finishing a franchise-worst 28th in and last in the NFL in pass defense, Martindale’s defenses had been consistently among the league’s best, a rarity in a high-variance era. From 2018 to 2020, the Ravens ranked in the top 10 in overall efficiency each year and led the NFL in scoring average (18.2 points per game allowed) and total defense (307.8 yards per game). They also tied for first in defensive touchdowns (12).
In the statement the Ravens released announcing Martindale’s departure, Harbaugh praised Martindale’s “major” contributions to the team’s defense as a position coach and coordinator. But Harbaugh said it was the “right time” to “move forward in separate directions.” On Wednesday, he said he had “nothing but respect and love” for Martindale, who joined Harbaugh’s staff in 2012 and was promoted to coordinator six years later.
“I know how much he loves Wink personally,” , acknowledging his own surprise at the move. “When he called me to tell me that he was going to make the change, I was shocked — and I mean, as an owner, not as a fan. I was just like, ‘Wow. OK.’ When things get stale and you want to change, it’s very hard for John to come to that conclusion.”
Harbaugh did not have to search far for Martindale’s replacement. Macdonald had joined the Ravens’ staff as an intern in 2014 and worked his way up to defensive backs coach by 2017. He was coming off a celebrated turnaround of Michigan’s defense in his first year as a college coordinator. When Macdonald, then only 34, was introduced in January as the NFL’s youngest defensive coordinator, he acknowledged that he and Martindale “see a lot of things the same.”
But over the Ravens’ offseason and erratic first five games, Macdonald has distinguished himself from Martindale — and not just with his buttoned-up news conferences and close-cropped haircuts. Ravens defenders have raved about Macdonald’s approach to teaching his defense, how he expects players to be interchangeable and how easy he makes it to learn.
In theory, Macdonald’s defense might be closer to Martindale’s than any other in the NFL. Ravens inside linebacker A.J. Klein, who spent a couple of days on the Giants’ practice squad, last week called them “the same defensive system.”
But in practice, their approaches on game day, at least early this season, have varied greatly. , the surprising Giants (4-1) lead the NFL in blitz rate (43.4%) under Martindale, a perch the Ravens occupied in Martindale’s first three years as the coordinator in Baltimore. Under Macdonald, the Ravens this season rank 21st (24.4%).
As part of their more conservative approach, the Ravens have played more zone coverage this season. , opposing quarterbacks have faced zone looks on at least twice as many drop-backs as they have faced man-to-man looks in every Ravens game this season. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was blitzed just three times and saw just four man-coverage snaps , an approach that at times seemed anathema to Martindale.
Other tweaks have been subtler. According to Sports Info Solutions, the Ravens have run a “Cover 0″ blitz — no deep safeties, man coverage across the board — just six times this season. That’s as many as Martindale sent after Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr in last year’s season opener.
With fewer defenders committed up front, Macdonald has diversified the Ravens’ looks in the back. On Sunday, the defense appeared to shift into a , in which a linebacker or more central defensive back drops into a deep-middle zone, at least twice. Inside linebacker Patrick Queen estimated Wednesday that the Ravens had called a Tampa 2 play maybe three times in the previous two seasons.
Macdonald’s also relied more on two-high-safety looks, joining a wave of coordinators around the NFL willing to sacrifice some integrity in their run fits for improved security against downfield passing plays.
“It’s just less stuff that we’ve got to worry about on our plate,” Queen said. “I think it’s more, ‘We can try to stop this, but if we get something else, then just play ball.’ As far as Wink, it was like trying to find a key for everything, trying to find a way to stop every play.” He called the two defenses “very, very similar, but very different at the same time.”
“When you have carryover, you’re still” reinventing your schemes, Harbaugh said Wednesday. “You’re not just throwing the same playbook out there. You just can’t do that in this league and last.”
Slowly but surely, Macdonald and the Ravens are finding their footing. Despite injuries in their secondary (cornerback Kyle Fuller and safety Marcus Williams) and along their front (defensive tackle Michael Pierce and outside linebacker Justin Houston), the defense enters Week 6 having held the Buffalo Bills and Bengals well below their typical output. After ranking 21st in defensive efficiency after Week 2, the Ravens are up to 14th overall, , buoyed by one of the NFL’s best takeaway rates.
Macdonald last week acknowledged that, in his review of the defense’s film, he’d found plays where he regretted not putting players in better positions. But in the locker room, his public support hasn’t wavered. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey said last week that Macdonald’s play calls have been “perfect,” spoiled occasionally by poor execution or miscommunication. Change, the Ravens believe, has been for the better.
“We have a new defensive coordinator, some new pieces to the puzzle, a lot of the guys that haven’t been here long,” Campbell said Sunday. “Not that I have any excuses or whatever, but we should get better with time. That’s just how it goes. The more we do it together, the better we’ll be.”
Week 6
RAVENS@GIANTS
Sunday, 1 p.m.
TV: Chs. 13, 9
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 6
()
