Michigan Defense: What to Expect from Wink Martindale on 3rd Down

Wink Martindale Pressure Concepts 

Wink Martindale was the defensive Coordinator of the Giants after a very successful run with the Ravens. He is now at Michigan, hopefully continuing to lead the Michigan defense in 2024. He will have some great talent to work with. Let’s look at some of his 3rd down concepts!

The Ravens were the 2nd best team in the NFL on 3rd down efficiency in 2020. They were also #3 in 2021. Now the Giants are excelling with some of Wink's exotic pressures and blitzes on 3rd down. He loves to run plenty of mug and show looks which has been a staple of his. The Giants were 2nd in the league after week 10 in 3rd down efficiency, holding teams to a whopping 28%. They ended the year 5th in the league and that can be attributed to Wink’s scheme.

The Ravens and Giants under Wink mixed it up on 3rd down but coach the crap out of route recognition and concepts. They bait you into some throws and then rally to the football. They also force slides and attack protection calls. They will often attack the man side in protection with 4 rushers with only 3 players to block it. They can also go in the direction and bring pressure the other. Their overload concepts are extremely difficult to pick up and they often get a free rusher.

Overload Pressure concepts

These are always a big part of the scheme and Wink Martindale. You will often see him send 4 rushers to a side with a nose guard becoming the contain rusher on the other side.

The KEY is they create 4 over 3 situations to either the zone side or man side of protection!

Here they play cover 2 and run the concept vs the Lions when Wink was there. The Nose MLB will be the contain rusher. They force the Lions into a balanced protection and get the RB on 2 LB. One guy can’t block 2.

They attack the man side of protection with a 4 over 3 scenario.

Here’s the tight film of the concept

Here’s the wide view

Giants Defense vs 49ers

Overload concept: Man Free Rat Coverage

They create the overload with 4 rushers on the left side and the LB comes free as they create 4 over 3 in protection.They show a mug look, the RG has to take the DT and the RT takes the wide 9. That puts the RB against 2 rushers as LT Williams has to step to the DE THibs(best rusher). The scheme causes the free rusher!

The 2nd LB comes clean inside. DE drops and is a rat on Kittle with man free behind it.

Tite and wide film clips below!

Giants Commanders 2023

What Wink does is he occupies the center with the nose. The Left guard has to step left because of the front with 19 Simmons coming.
this forces the 4 over 3 on the left.

As you can see on film they get the 4 over 3 on the left. mike goes a gap to the left so it creates the unblocked blocker. 

3rd and 10 

Penny front: Here comes the overload zone pressure(4 to a side). Great scheme and design as the Texans throw hot away from the pressure. 

Nice 3 deep look and design. Wink had Mills on his toes all game.  Bringing pressure early forced some quick decisions. They bring the slot safety and the mike and drop to a 3 under 3 deep scheme. 

You see the slot come on the left with the Mike LB. They bail a DT and a LB to the right.

You can see the 3 under deep and even though the Giants look like they messed up the coverage. Loose  the left side the pressure forces a quick decision

Nice design and here is the clip as they get off the field on 3rd and 10

Exotic Pressures

Wink can draw up some exotic mug looks. He is one of the best at it.

Another pressure vs the Lions where they get a free rusher. They bring the heat up the middle with the mike LB looping this time. This time they run a game with the mike 54 looping right and he become free. They also run a game on the left.

The stunt gets home and forces a quick throw by Goff.

They are playing man free with it

Here’s the pressure

Here’s the coverage

VS JETS

Attack

TEXANS 2020

Here are some highlights from some of their games. In a 33-16 win vs the Texans week 2, they beat the Texans and held them to 3/9 on 3rd down. 

The texans were sacked 2 times and of the 4 completed passes, 3 were for 6 yards or less. They pressured Desean on 2 other occasions and forced him to run.

Here's a few pressures. 

On 3rd and 5, The Texans are 3x1 to their right side. The Ravens are in an odd look.

The Ravens overload the left defensive side and bring a sim pressure away from the slide.

First the pressure:

Nice design as 36 comes clean.
They force the slide which frees up the Safety from depth. The guard 74 is late.

The safety comes clean and they get the sack.

They force the protection and the pressure gets home. 

Coverage: It looks like presnap man but it becomes a cover 3 coverage with the CB bailing.

Nice job tying in the pressure with the coverage down field.

Vs Washington

Bear Front

They bring the mike and 2 off the edge. They also run an t and e game with it. They bring 1 more rusher than blocker.

These are a few of the concepts you will see from Wink Martindale! He is one of the top defensive coordinators in the league and one of the best at drawing up pressure.