Don Martindale will reunite with his longtime employer for a day this week, with the Giants hosting the Ravens in Week 6. Despite injury issues at edge rusher and cornerback, the Giants will enter this matchup ranked in the top 12 in both points allowed and total defense.
Martindale, 59, had the Ravens on that level over his first three seasons in Baltimore, but last year’s injury onslaught proved too much for the team to continue its run of solid defensive play. Still, most in the Ravens organization expected Martindale to be back for a fifth season as the team’s defensive coordinator, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic notes (subscription required).
We heard in January the Ravens were unwilling to extend Martindale’s contract, but Pompei adds the team did offer a team option for 2023. Martindale, whose Ravens contract ran through 2022, held out for a true extension. That led to the late-January separation.
Although the Ravens generally want their top assistants on multiyear deals, the team’s reluctance to extend such an offer to Martindale certainly reflected hesitancy to continue what had been a successful partnership. Martindale was with the Ravens for 10 years, the first six coming as their linebackers coach.
The Giants hired Martindale, whom they interviewed for their head coach position in 2020, nearly three weeks later. Former Ravens outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins followed. Big Blue was without its top edge defenders (Kayvon Thibodeaux, Azeez Ojulari) for its first two games and has been without Leonard Williams for the past three. The Giants finished their London game — an upset victory over the Packers — without their top three corners but held on to thwart a final Aaron Rodgers drive. The blitzes Martindale became known for in Baltimore are prevalent in New York, and Sunday’s Ravens clash will bring one of Sunday’s more interesting matchups.
The Ravens moved on with Mike Macdonald, a former Martindale assistant who spent the 2021 season under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. The Ravens have also run into injury trouble at outside linebacker and corner, and Macdonald’s defense ranks 18th in points allowed and 28th in yards yielded. At 35, Macdonald is the league’s youngest active DC.
The team is moving toward having its full arsenal of edge rushers available soon, however, with Tyus Bowser and second-round pick David Ojabo returning to practice this week. It is not yet known if either will be available Sunday, with Ojabo having been viewed as needing until around the midseason point to recover from his March Achilles tear. But the team is coming off a strong defensive outing against the Bengals and should be in position to improve further once the edge rushers are all back.