Giants’ Wink Martindale zings Bill Belichick: ‘We’re on to Cincinnati’
Following a Week 1 preseason game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots, head coach Bill Belichick griped a bit.
That’s not out of character for Belichick, who gripes often. This time, he claimed the Patriots’ offense was unable to run some of the plays they would have liked due to Martindale’s heavy blitzing.
“Well, with what the Giants were doing, there’s a lot of reasons for some of the things that we did just to try to manage the game. So, just leave it at that,” said Belichick, via NESN’s Zach Cox.
Giants players didn’t necessarily understand Belichick’s frustration. They felt Martindale had scaled things down with some even calling it a “vanilla” approach.
“It was really vanilla, it was just really basic,” rookie linebacker Darrian Beavers said.
“I know a lot happens between coaches before preseason games, gentleman agreements, or whatever. I thought we were fine, I thought everything we played was very standard in terms of what you want to see young guys getting,” safety Julian Love said. “So, I’m not sure about all of that stuff, but I thought our plan wasn’t anything exotic on defense. I thought it was very cut and dry on defense.”
Asked about Belichick’s complaints on Thursday, Martindale responded with an all-time line.
Wink Martindale's response to the suggestion that the Giants blitzed too much against the Patriots for a preseason game?
"We're on to Cincinnati" 😂 pic.twitter.com/LjVc2zeUF8
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) August 18, 2022
“We’re on to Cincinnati,” Martindale said, echoing one of Belichick’s most famous lines.
Belichick repeated that same line in response to a series of questions following a 41-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014. It was his way of skirting any questions about a game that obviously stuck in his craw. It was even given the meme treatment — something that persists to this very day.
Years later, Belichick defended his defiance, claiming his broken record response was the result of reporters asking the same question five times.
“I could have done it three times, I could have done it 53 times, It could have been 103 times if that’s what they wanted to keep asking, because we had to turn the page,” he said, via FOX Sports.
It’s rare that anyone gets one over on Belichick, but Martindale most certainly did. And the beat pool breaking out into laughter is proof positive of that.
Well done, Wink. Well done.
