Don “Wink” Martindale joined the Ravens staff in 2012 as the team’s linebackers coach.
He stayed on the staff until this past offseason, when he departed the organization after four seasons as defensive coordinator and took the same position with the Giants.
On Sunday, Martindale will be on the opposite sideline when New York takes on Baltimore.
Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said on Wednesday that it was more of a mutual decision with Martindale to part ways after the 2021 season than it was a difficult conversation to fire him.
"[W]e had great conversations throughout. We were talking all the time,” Harbaugh said at his press conference. “We’re close, so it wasn’t like a specific meeting. It was just kind of an opportunity to talk about where we were both going and what was best. I think we both came to that decision together, I’d say; that’s how I would like to look at it.
“I feel that way about it, and I think it’s turning out great for him. [I have] nothing but admiration for what he’s doing.”
Harbaugh noted, “It’s a great question,” when asked how differently he expects Martindale to approach Sunday’s matchup given the history between him and the Ravens.
“We were just having that conversation out there; it’s like, ‘He knows that we know, that we know that he knows, that he knows that we know.’ So, it’s something like that,” Harbaugh said with a laugh.
With Martindale in tow, the Giants enter Week Six at No. 9 in points allowed and No. 12 in yards allowed. Under new coordinator Mike Macdonald, the Ravens are No. 17 in points allowed and No. 28 in yards allowed.
