Defensive Coordinator Wink Martindale
December 21, 2023
From the last game with the Saints, you come out of that game, and you hold them under 300 yards offensively, I would’ve signed up for that right away. I thought we were very effective of taking (Saints quarterback) Taysom (Hill) away from them with all the wildcat. I think he was one carry for minus-one and the other one was an incomplete pass throwing the ball. I thought we limited (Saints running back Alvin) Kamara essentially from what he was doing before that. They just were very efficient with the football and they made some plays on third down and in the redzone and the redzone was on third down as well, but overall I thought that our guys played their tails off and the four minute stop we had there at the end of the game shows you the type of players that they are and teammates they are for each other that they weren’t going to quit until there was zeroes on the clock and with that, I applaud them for that. We are getting ready now for a tough challenge on Christmas Day. You are going against an offense that you play eleven-on-eleven football and you have to defend every blade of grass, you know the same way you do against San Francisco, the same way you do against the Dolphins and it’s going to be a tough challenge for us.
With that, I'll open it up to questions.
Q: Have you figured out how to deal with them on third-and-one or fourth-and-one?
A: I mean, everybody probably says yeah. I mean, what is it a 96 percent success rate on that rugby (play), but we are going to give it our best shot, so we’ll see what happens.
Q: Why are they so – in your opinion, why are they so good at it?
A: I think that, obviously, they are really good at it because they know – it’s just like a rugby scrum and if you see a rugby scrum, in the sport of rugby, it goes this way, it goes this way, it goes this way, it goes this way, (pointing fingers in different directions). Well, if it moves at all a little bit forward, they are going to give them the forward progress. It doesn’t matter how you play it. And I think every defensive coordinator, every coach in this league, has looked at different ways to try to stop it and it’s just a tough play to stop.
Q: They handed the ball off, right?
A: Oh, they can hand the ball off as well.
Q: They got a first down with that, so do you want to sell out for that?
A: Yeah, I mean you have to protect all angles of it, they have plays off of it as well. But I mean as a defense, I think that you have to just look at every down, every first down, it’s not first and 10, it’s first and nine. So, I mean if you just look at it that way, you just got to give it your best shot when they get in those situations.
Q: Does it lead you to play anything differently because of that? Because of that short yardage aspect.
A: We are going to have to see on Christmas.
Q: I saw one time, it was actually (Seahawks safety) Julian (Love) who came in and kind of took out the pusher.
A: Picked off a pusher, yeah.
Q: What’s your feeling about that? Is that something that you could do consistently or try to do?
A: I don’t know if he already had the first down before then, but I think that was smart by J-Love. I really do.
Q: A lot of defenses have a true free safety and a true strong safety and it seems like (Jason) Pinnock and X(avier McKinney) are very interchangeable in that regard. How does that add to the disguise – how does their interchangeability add to the disguise? Do you think that’s important for Pinnock to have moving forward in his career?
A: Yeah, I think that’s big time. It’s important for any safety. If you have two safeties that can play either way, down in the box or back deep, that’s an advantage to the defense and an advantage for the defensive coordinator, with disguises and things like that, everything you just mentioned.
Q: You were talking about the Saints game, things you did well. Why do you think you guys weren’t able to generate more pressure?
A: I know it’s the answer that you don’t want to hear, is that you give credit to them. We pressured them 61 percent of the time in that game, but he (Saints quarterback Derek Carr) was getting rid of the ball in two-and-a-half seconds. He was throwing off his back foot. He was just very good with the football, like I said, very efficient. They were chipping our edges, they were doubling (defensive lineman) Dex(ter Lawrence II) when he was in there and my hats off to them, they had a good game plan with it. There were some plays, there was some bang bang plays that we made. The biggest difference in the game with the Saints is we didn’t take the ball away from them and for us to have success, we know we need to take the ball away from them. So, that’s what we try to do every Sunday, or whenever the game is going to be played, this Monday.
Q: Speaking of taking the ball away, (Eagles quarterback) Jalen Hurts I think is tied for the league lead in turnovers, the Eagles have lost three straight, we’re hearing about how their offense is struggling, I mean, do you look at that as this is a good time to get them or do you look at that as, I’m not buying into that?
A: I’m not buying into that. Look, one of the biggest things, one of the greatest challenges of playing Philly, is going against (Eagles center) Jason Kelce. I mean, this guy to me is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He embodies Philly. Just like the fans, mean but smart. This guy, to me, and I said this last year and I don’t know if I said it to you guys, it’s like playing (former Colts and Broncos quarterback) Peyton Manning and it’s not sexy so he doesn’t get that Peyton Manning type credit, but he’ll see something, whether it’s a stance, whether it’s a guy putting his mouthpiece in different. He’ll see something and completely flip a protection. So, that chess match is always tough. When people want to talk about their offense or anything else, first thing I’m going to say is: what’s their record? Alright, we know what their record is, so I’m not buying any of that. I give a ton credit to (Eagles Head Coach) Nick (Sirianni) and this offensive system and (Eagles offensive coordinator) Brian (Johnson). Like I said, I think Jason Kelce, he doesn’t get enough credit. Like I said, he’s a first ballot Hall of Famer. And to (Eagles Executive Vice President/General Manager) Howie (Roseman), I mean their skill that they have at receiver, getting (Eagles running back (D’Andre) Swift at running back, he’s a difference maker. So, he has all kinds of weapons, (Eagles quarterback) Jalen (Hurts) does offensively, and that guy is a winner. They’ve played some closer games this year. That happens, that’s this league. So, it’s going to be a tough challenge.
Q: On their defensive side of the ball, they’ve had some kind of turnover on the coaching and coordinator and playcalling side, what have you seen them do differently?
A: Defensively?
Q: I don’t know if you watch that side at all.
A: No, I mean I’m in this thing watching these guys. I don’t have time.
Q: I didn’t know if watched the game and saw anything.
A: Yeah, I mean I don’t critique anybody else’s defense. I haven’t even – I’m sitting there studying their offense, you know?
