In a bit of a surprise, people haven't been too pleased with NY Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to start the season. Martindale's unit has looked rough through the first three weeks of the campaign, obviously including the 30-12 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
A major disappointment for fans in that defeat was seeing the Giants record a mind-boggling 16 missed tackles in Santa Clara. Both Micah McFadden and Bobby Okereke led the team with three missed stops, which simply can't happen.
This week in practice, the Giants have been focusing on making sure that kind of a nightmare performance doesn't happen again. Martindale is confident his guys will bounce back and be much better in that department against the Seahawks.
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale concedes the tackling was a problem against San Francisco. He doesn’t think it’s a major concern for this team long term.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 29, 2023
“Come out Monday night. Chart ‘em,” he said.
Martindale had the defense working extra on tackling this week. Extra… pic.twitter.com/4E82H1JcHm
Wink Martindale is confident the Giants will clean up their missed tackles problem
Martindale telling people to 'chart 'em' in terms of the missed tackles lets you know that he has no doubt in his mind that it wont be an issue in Week 4. As confident as Martindale is leading up to kickoff, plenty of Big Blue supporters are still a bit worried.
The Seahawks are loaded with offensive playmakers, as quarterback Geno Smith really has the offense rolling. Seattle has scored 37 points in back-to-back games, which shows their class on that side of the ball.
New York won't be able to get away with arm tackles or lazy play when trying to bring down Kenneth Walker, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and others. With this being a must-win game for Brian Daboll and Co., the defense as a whole is going to have to play lights out.
The Giants are 1-2 on the year and the need to get to 2-2 could not be higher, especially with Miami and Buffalo next up on the schedule. Sure tackling could be the difference-maker for the G-Men in this Monday Night Football battle. We'll trust Martindale and believe that his guys will be ready to answer the call.