The relationship between New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale came to an abrupt end Monday, less than 24 hours after the team ended a disappointing 6-11 season.
As details emerged of the final hours of the partnership, things didn’t look good for either side, with Daboll reportedly firing two of Martindale’s most trusted assistants, Kevin and Drew Wilkins. , Martindale responded “F–you” and stormed out of the room.Team source spoke on condition of anonymity Competitor Because they are not authorized to discuss the situation publicly. The Giants announced Wednesday that the two sides “mutually agree to part ways.”
Even in a decade filled with dysfunction, the Martindale incident remained a low point for the Giants. Such an ugly departure raises an obvious question: How could a seemingly promising relationship turn into such an acrimonious one?
Daboll hired Martindale in 2022 after he unexpectedly left the Baltimore Ravens after 10 years as an assistant coach and finished in the top three in scoring in three of four seasons as defensive coordinator. . A contract impasse and a desire for a fresh start led Martindale to leave Baltimore.
Martindale had options, but he was drawn to the Giants because of his love for ownership after interviewing for the team’s 2020 head coaching vacancy. Martindale, 60, has made no secret of his desire to become a head coach and sees success in New York as a way to achieve that goal.
Daboll and Martindale have no relationship other than as coordinators. That competition created mutual respect, and when they began working together, they discovered they had similar personalities.
“I’ve always had a lot of respect for him,” Martindale said last January. “I think our personalities are very similar. You know that when you meet someone.”
Landing a highly regarded defensive coordinator like Wink Martindale would be a coup for first-time head coach Brian Daboll in 2022. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Despite having similar personalities as competitive football players, Daboll and Martindale bring different temperaments to the sidelines. It didn’t take long for those differences to surface, and tensions began to mount during their first training camp together.
“You’ll probably see it building a little bit,” a team source said. “Like the defense is setting up, there might be 12 guys on the field, but Dabes is losing the defense, he’s calling the coaches, and he’s making it personal.”
Martindale displays an arrogant personality that is framed by his standard attire—sunglasses, a long-sleeved white compression shirt, and basketball sneakers—that make him look like the WWE version of a football coach. But he’s proud of his calmness.
While it’s not uncommon for NFL head coaches to lose their cool, multiple team sources said Daboll’s approach went a little too far, especially during games.
“On game day, he was crazy,” a team source said. “This is so cruel.”
This shouldn’t be a revelation to fans who witnessed Daboll’s red-faced tirade over player errors during the game. Assistant coaches were annoyed at having to endure Daboll’s rants while trying to coach.
“It got to the point where you had to take the headphones off or take one ear off,” said another team source. “He just kept screaming. Like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t even think.'”
Martindale spent the past decade working for Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who had a much calmer demeanor on the sidelines. Martindale didn’t appreciate Daboll’s change of style.
“Wink doesn’t like this at all,” a team source said. “The look in his eyes and the way he looked at you, Wink couldn’t stand it.”
As early as October 2022, Martindale’s philosophical differences had been hidden from outside view. His comments at the press conference now read like a thinly veiled criticism of Daboll’s off-field outburst.
“What I tell the players all the time is, ‘I owe you my composure during the game,'” Martindale said. “Some people have told me that I need to be more active off the court. If you’re thinking about the next play and what you’re going to call it next, you’re not going to be excited.”
Martindale has been more vocal about his displeasure with Daboll’s behind-the-scenes outbursts.
“Wink just walked in (to the coaching meeting) and said something like, ‘When so-and-so did this, I stayed calm. I just moved on to the next game,” a team source said. “He would throw things out there to see if he would piss off (Daboll). Daboll knew that. Daboll was not stupid. It would just float through the meeting and no one would say anything.”
As his explosive departure proved, Martindale isn’t the type to quietly suffer something he doesn’t like. As a result, there were snide comments in meetings and public hints at his preferred coaching style.
“His personality kind of lends itself to his defensive style — zero-blitz, man-to-man coverage,” a team source said. “He’s not a loose cannon. He’s very calculating. But he just won’t pay—”
Last season, the rift was minimized when the ultimate antidote was winning. The Giants are off to an unexpected 6-1 start, with Martindale’s blitzing scheme helping them outlast former MVP quarterbacks Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson (against Martindale’s former team) and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, this is an especially sweet win.
The Giants made the playoffs and won their first postseason game since Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. No one outside the team had any reason to suspect there was a rift between Daboll and Martindale.
“When things go well, you live with it,” a team source said. “It gets complicated when things don’t go well.”
Most observers believe the Giants’ pain this season began with a 40-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 in front of a national audience on “Sunday Night Football.” But a team source said the atmosphere on the sideline was extremely tense during the Giants game. preseason The opening game takes place in Detroit.
Even with most of the starters rested, Daboll was angry about the mistakes made by players who didn’t make the roster. The television broadcast captured Daboll confronting special teams coordinator Thomas McGaugh, who was fired on Monday, after the Giants allowed a 95-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter of the Giants’ 21-16 loss. Thomas McGaughey gave a death stare. During that exhibition game, the entire staff felt Daboll’s wrath.
Brian Daboll was caught for a touchdown by the Lions on a 94-yard punt return by Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey. 🥶 pic.twitter.com/PWEo5Bk9yL
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) August 12, 2023
“That sets the pace for the year,” a team source said.
The Giants never recovered from a disastrous 1-5 start. The offense that drew more of Daboll’s attention was a mess. But the defense wasn’t much better during a rough opening period. The Giants gave up 441 yards in a 30-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3 and 524 yards in a 31-16 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 5.
The season bottomed out in Week 9 with a 30-6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Quarterback Daniel Jones suffered a torn ACL during the game, but the drama on the defense unexpectedly drew attention.
Safety Xavier McKinney told ESPN of the coaches’ situation, “I don’t think they do a great job of letting leaders lead and listening to leaders and captains.” In a sign of the controversy, Daboll downplayed McKinney’s comments the next day.McKinney says “all is well” Two days later.
The story could have ended there.But at a press conference later that week, Martindale spoke extensively about How much damage did McKinney’s comments hurt him?, creating another cycle of headlines. This is the opposite of what Daboll does.
Tensions intensified the next week when the Cowboys lost 49-17. With undrafted rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito making his first career start, the Giants were crushed by the Cowboys. Dallas gained 640 yards and the Giants fell to 2-8.
Fox sideline reporter Tom Rinaldi noted on the broadcast that Daboll and Martindale had a lengthy discussion that began at the end of the first half and continued as they walked out of the locker room in the second half. The Giants were beaten for the second time in two months and the atmosphere was tense, with players and coaches having multiple “intense discussions” on the sidelines.
All of the long-simmering feuds came to the surface ahead of the Giants’ Week 12 game against the New England Patriots. Fox’s Jay Glazer reports The relationship between Daboll and Martindale was so “bad” that the breakup was expected. Later that day, after a 10-7 win over the Patriots on a stellar defensive performance, Daboll gave Martindale a game ball in the locker room, which team sources believed was performative because They knew the relationship was broken.
🗣 Post-match speech pic.twitter.com/SwunL7mKzp
— New York Giants (@Giants) November 26, 2023
Impressively, Daboll and Martindale managed to avoid a dispute between players. That was important for the team to stay together as the team finished a stunning 4-3 with DeVito and veteran backup Tyrod Taylor at quarterback.
Players view Daboll as a player’s coach, even though they may have been the victims of his sideline outbursts. One senior player said emotional outbursts were mostly an acceptable part of playing at Daboll, although they could backfire when emotions were already running high.
Players complained that Daboll’s predecessor, Joe Judge, pushed too hard on them during practices and held meetings that took too long. Daboll seems to have a better sense of how to manage players, with his practices being more relaxed and meetings shorter. The Giants had a rare Wednesday preview in Week 18 and then battled to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10.
“He does a great job of keeping everyone together and feeling the pulse of the team,” a team source said.
His staff needs that touch now more than ever. Daboll must find a new defensive coordinator and fill a number of other assistant positions that became vacant during Monday’s mini-sweep.
A league source said Martindale’s situation has been resolved as the veteran coach is free to seek a job with any team after agreeing to sacrifice the remaining $3 million of his contract with the Giants. But as Daboll enters a critical offseason, it will be interesting to see if the dynamics that led to his ugly divorce from his most famous assistant cause him to make any changes.
“I’m confident in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” Daboll said Monday hours before everything broke. “Of course, there’s a lot we can improve on. That’s what the offseason is about, really, in every aspect.”
(Illustration: John Bradford/ sports; Brian Daboll and Wink Martindale Photos: Kevin Sabitus, Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
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