A Giants win over Vikings may boost Wink Martindale’s head-coaching dream
Wink Martindale has talked about his football legacy with his wife, Laura, and he has arrived at the conclusion that he does not need to be an NFL head coach before he is done.
“I’m OK with being one of the best coordinators in this league,” he told The Post on Thursday.
One of the best coordinators, or the best?
“We’ll see,” Martindale answered. “We’ll see when it’s all done.”
As the man in charge of the Giants’ defense, Martindale has his hands full this wild-card week trying to figure out how to slow down the Vikings, contain Justin Jefferson and hit Kirk Cousins enough to advance the NFC’s six seed past the three seed in Minneapolis and into a likely matchup with the one seed in Philly.
But still, Martindale is human. He is a 59-year-old grandfather running low on time, and according to someone close to him, “Wink went to New York to become a head coach.” Martindale and his former boss, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, got divorced in part because their relationship had run its course over 10 years in Baltimore, and in part because they agreed Martindale’s best shot at a promotion was through a storied franchise that needed reviving in the big city.
And so there was Martindale on Thursday, taking the press-conference podium after his 35-year-old colleague Mike Kafka ran a clinic on how not to handle legitimate queries about a head-coaching candidacy during playoff prep. The Panthers and Texans have reportedly requested interviews with the Giants offensive coordinator, and if questioned by the news media about such opportunities, the personable Martindale would have loved the opportunity to engage and playfully deflect. Upper-case Wink would have answered those questions with a smile and a lower-case wink.
He didn’t get the chance because no team, to date, has requested an interview with the man who took a run at the Giants job three years ago, only to lose out to Joe Judge. But after his session with reporters was over, Martindale reminded The Post that it’s “way early, first of all” in the offseason hiring process.
Could a dramatic postseason run led by the Giants’ defense drive Martindale into the end zone before his personal clock runs out?
“Do I want to be a head coach? Sure I do,” he said. “But I can also be a defensive coordinator here, sign a lifetime contract and stay here, too. I’d be fine with that. I try not to think about that now especially, because it’s Minnesota week. I owe the players that because of how hard they’ve worked.”
And those Giants have worked extremely hard for Martindale, who has won over his unit in Year 1 by playing offense on defense, and by opening so many lanes to the other guy’s quarterback.
“We’ve had 19 different guys this year on the roster that’s got a sack,” Martindale said. “That’s crazy.”
Crazy for the coaches, a whole lot of fun for the players.
“It is fun because it’s not just one person making plays,” said Dexter Lawrence. “It’s the whole defense making plays, and guys you love to play with making plays. And it’s good to see that different excitement levels, different celebrations. Those things go along with an attacking style of defense.”
So do breakdowns in a secondary left undermanned by the rush. On the Vikings’ winning Christmas Eve drive, punctuated by a 61-yard field goal, Jefferson made two big catches against Martindale’s blitz-happy scheme. Wink sounded awfully eager to explain his approach against Minnesota’s best player, whom he referred to by his jersey number.
“Great players make great plays, and 18 made a great play. Made two of them,” Martindale said. “And Cousins was throwing off his back foot. … You try to limit [Jefferson], but you can’t take away 18. He’s one of the top two receivers, and he’s not number two, in this league.”
After the Minnesota loss, Martindale headed to the back of the Giants plane and told his men, “We’ve got a playoff defense, guys. We just got beat by a buzzer beater at half-court.”
Martindale needs to make sure Sunday that Jefferson isn’t the league’s best receiver, at least for those three hours. He needs to make sure that Cousins is punished for his lack of mobility.
The Giants will surely apply extreme pressure to the pocket. “If you’ve got NY on your helmet, or the old-school Giants on your helmet, you’re going to attack,” Martindale said. He believes his unit can honor the Giants tradition of fielding big-game defenses that harass quarterbacks, from Tom Brady on down.
And Wink isn’t interested in waiting for the next phase of Brian Daboll’s championship-building program to kick in. According to Lawrence, Martindale “helps us learn how to embrace moments with each other because everything is going to be different next year. ‘So don’t wait until next year. Dominate this year.’ ”
What will happen if the Giants’ defense dominates the Vikings’ offense and launches an improbable postseason run that will be celebrated in the nation’s biggest media market?
“I should be able to get a reservation,” Martindale said.
He should be able to get a job, too.
