The defensive coordinator Don Martindale’s schemes helped the Giants rally to beat his former team and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — For four seasons, Don Martindale was the only N.F.L. defensive coordinator who never needed to worry about stopping Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in a game. He served as their defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021, and saw Jackson evolve from an uncertain starting quarterback into the league’s most valuable player in 2019.
Martindale watched from the sideline as Jackson made opposing defenders look inept by continually dodging them in ways resembling a running back or wide receiver. Often, the only person stopping Jackson was Jackson himself, with late-game turnovers.
While Martindale never had to face Jackson’s offense in regular-season action, he did see him every day in practice. He drew up defensive schemes to stop him in scrimmages for nothing more than pride between the team’s offensive and defensive units.
Now that Martindale is the Giants’ defensive coordinator, did that give him an advantage on Sunday against the Ravens? Late in the game, it seemed that way, as two defensive plays gave the Giants a 24-20 win, improving their record to 5-1 and eclipsing their win total from last season.
“He was on top of the world,” Giants defensive back Julian Love said. “You got to be kidding yourself if you don’t want to beat your former team in any aspect.”
The Giants overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, their second straight game with a second-half comeback. Four of their five wins have come by 5 points or fewer. Often, they needed a game-winning drive or defensive stop to close out the victory.
“This the ‘don’t fold’ team,” Giants linebacker Jihad Ward said.
While preseason favorites like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams have struggled, the Giants, one of the most surprising teams in the N.F.L., have picked up wins week after week. They have been paced by running back Saquon Barkley, who has lined up everywhere from receiver to quarterback, and who led the league in yards from scrimmage entering Sunday. He finished with 95 total yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s game.
This team is off to its best start since 2009, in large part because of Martindale’s defense. He is an aggressive play-caller who is unafraid to send blitzes on key downs, even at quarterbacks who are known for making defenses pay for sending heavy rushes.
The Giants are blitzing 40 percent of the time this season, which ranks second in the league, according to N.F.L. Next Gen Stats. In the Giants’ thrilling Week 5 win over Green Bay, they blitzed quarterback Aaron Rodgers on a fourth-down play that would have sent the game to overtime if the Packers had scored. But the pass was batted down by defensive back Xavier McKinney.
With just under two minutes remaining Sunday, and the Giants clinging to a 4-point lead, Martindale drew up a blitz. Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux found his way to Jackson, sacking him and knocking the ball loose. The Giants recovered the fumble, effectively ending the game. Thibodeaux recorded a video as he fought through tears after the win: “Man, you-all can see my emotions going crazy,” Thibodeaux said. “We did it, man.”
At times Sunday, Martindale’s approach did not seem to be effective, and it did not always appear that Thibodeaux would be crying tears of joy after the game. The Ravens (3-3) exploited the Giants’ run defense, which had allowed the second-most yards in the league before Sunday, for big gains at every turn. Jackson, Kenyan Drake and J.K. Dobbins combined for 211 yards rushing. Drake, who had 119 yards on 10 carries, eclipsed 100 yards for the first time since November 2020, when he played for the Arizona Cardinals.
There were times when the Giants’ pressure got to Jackson in the backfield, as in the second quarter, when the Ravens were at their 10-yard line and defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence blew by an offensive lineman and got a hand on Jackson. But Jackson shook Lawrence off and sprinted for 14 yards. As the Ravens had success on the ground, the passing game began to free up as the Giants’ defenders overcommitted to slowing down the rushing attack.
But in the fourth quarter, the Giants got stops when they needed them, and capitalized. First, Love intercepted Jackson while the Giants were down by 3 points with just three minutes remaining. Love carried the ball like a trophy through the locker room and to his postgame news conference.
“That's a future Hall of Fame quarterback; when you get a pick off somebody like that you got to keep the ball,” Love said, adding that he also cherishes an interception ball from Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes from last season.
Then, there was the game-sealing fumble, which sparked ear-piercing roars. It was louder than Giants fans had been all game. It was followed by the Giants’ offense winding down the remainder of the game clock. Barkley even slid before what would have been an easy touchdown to ensure that the Ravens never got another offensive opportunity.
And somehow, even though it looked as if they were destined to lose many times Sunday, the Giants ended up with a win, as they have in all but one game this season.
“You can really feel the energy from the fans, and it wasn’t always necessarily like that the first couple of years,” Barkley said, reflecting on his previous four seasons with New York. “And we weren’t really doing a good job of going out there and winning games.”
He continued: “I wanted to go out there and give them something to be proud of. And I feel like this team is doing that.”
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