Martindale's Plan for Lamar Jackson Helped Giants Defense Win in Critical Moments

The Giants’ win over the Ravens in Week 6 is a glaring example of the importance of situational football.

New York held the Ravens to just 20 points and won the game, but you couldn’t say that they really shut down Baltimore’s offense. The Ravens averaged 7.0 yards per play and finished with 211 yards on the ground. They even had 22 plays that gained at least 10 yards! Lamar Jackson’s legs were responsible for 5 of those plays, and he finished with 77 yards rushing. So you couldn’t really say the Giants contained him either.

Yet the Giants did manage to win many of the key moments that would ultimately decide the game. These wins came as a result of clever scheme, good execution, and some self-inflicted mistakes by the Ravens offense.

Wink Martindale’s Scheme

Let’s start with Baltimore’s first drive. They faced a 3rd-and-8 from the Giants’ 36-yard line. This was 4-down territory given John Harbaugh’s aggressive tendencies. Combine that with Jackon’s explosiveness as a runner, and this was a situation where the Ravens could opt to run or pass.

Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale decided that this was a perfect opportunity to dial up a unique look that might create some confusion for the Ravens offense:

Those three defenders standing in the middle could do anything from that alignment. One of the objectives here was to make the assignments of Baltimore’s offensive linemen unclear before the snap. But the ultimate goal of the front was to neutralize the impact of Lamar’s legs on 3rd down.

The Giants would run a multi-faceted stunt, with the edge defenders on both sides slanting inside, and two of the standing defenders (#5-Kayvon Thibodeaux and #53-Oshane Ximines) looping around the edge:

If this was going to be a pass, not only would the Giants have a good opportunity for a sack with the stunt, but they could also prevent Lamar from escaping the pocket based on the paths of those looping rushers.

As it turned out, though, the Ravens had a run called. They dialed up a “counter-bash,” which is not only a staple of their running game, it’s also a design they use frequently to generate big plays:

Jackson’s read is to watch the edge defender away from the pulling action. If he crashes inside, Jackson could give to his running back on the sweep. If he stays outside, Jackson can keep it and run the counter.

The stunts off both edges served as a way to try and bait Jackson, however.