Tom Rinaldi of Fox reported during Sunday’s game that Giants head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale had a long conversation on the sideline at the end of the first half. The coaches continued their conversation as they came out of the locker room for the second half.
It seemed as if the Giants sideline was a tinderbox with the team getting its head handed to it by the Cowboys for a second time this season.
Martindale downplayed those conversations during his media availability Thursday.
“Dabs said something to me after the game about that, and he and I talk all the time,” Martindale said, via Patricia Traina of SI.com, “but in those two situations, I talked to him about what happened, because one thing about our defense: We don’t give up a whole lot of big passing plays — and I credit the secondary to that and ‘Rome [defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson]--and we gave up some big plays in the passing game, which you all saw.
“So, I told [Daboll] what happened on the coverages. That was it right before the half. And then coming back out, he had just got done at that time talking to the trainers, and we were talking about who wasn’t coming back for the third quarter during that time, and that turned into whatever it turned into, but there was nothing to it.”
The Cowboys had their second-most yards in team history with 640, outgaining the Giants by 468. That was the largest total yardage difference in the NFL in 44 years.
The Giants lost 49-17 after getting shutout by the Cowboys 40-0 in Week 1.
“It doesn’t happen very often, or you wouldn’t have this job very long, so, you know, it was a tough game,” Martindale said. “But like I said, I give Dallas credit. It was one of those games that you make a call, and you feel real good about it until the ball is snapped, and then you are like, ‘Oh, no.’ You know? It was a tough one for all of us.”