Prior to Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer reported that the relationship between New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale was in “a bad place.”
Glazer suggested that a mutual parting of ways could be on the horizon, possibly even before the regular season ends.
The report, which was not the first of its kind, came after an interaction between Daboll and Martindale went viral in Week 10.
Although both Daboll and Martindale dismissed their extended exchange as normal football conversation, something seemed off. And the oddities continued following a Week 11 win against the Washington Commanders when Daboll had safety Xavier McKinney, who engaged in a public spat with Martindale, break down the team.
Asked about Glazer’s report following a 10-7 victory over the Patriots on Sunday, Daboll scoffed and seemed to dismiss it outright, as did others throughout the organization, including a high-ranking official.
“I’d say the biggest argument that Wink and I have had is who has the last piece of pizza,” Daboll said. “I got a lot of respect for Wink. He’s done a good job. I’ll leave it at that.”
Daboll also presented Martindale with the game ball on Sunday, which felt optics-driven with rumors swirling.
Not satisfied with Daboll’s commentary, reporters continued to question Daboll about Glazer’s report during a Monday morning press conference. And this time around, the second-year head coach refused to rule out firing the veteran coordinator.
“I’m done with that,” Daboll said angrily. “I’m done with that. Yeah, I just met with Wink a little while ago. We had doughnuts.”
Asked point-blank if he could assure that Martindale would remain with the Giants, Daboll passed the buck.
“I addressed what I said last night and I’m going to leave it at what I said last night,” he said.
While Daboll did appear to dismiss Glazer’s report initially, his refusal to rule out a firing is more than enough to fuel the tabloids. A simple answer in this scenario is easy and Daboll wouldn’t take it — which is a common trait for the coach when it comes to repeat questions.
General manager Joe Schoen’s decision to play dumb won’t help the speculation, either.
“What was the report?” Schoen asked. “I didn’t realize he said he wasn’t going to make it through the year. I think Dabes just addressed that.
“There’s always going to be noise… I know what we think inside those four walls and that’s what matters. I’ve got a great relationship with Wink. I don’t know where some of this stuff comes from. I’ll yield to Dabes on what he said on that.”
Most will want to believe this is much ado about nothing and maybe it is. But maybe it’s not. Daboll and Schoen are generally transparent but sometimes they leave things open to interpretation. This is one of those times.
