Giants' Xavier McKinney says he's cleared air with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale
Giants safety Xavier McKinney blocks the pass by Commanders quarterback Sam Howell during ta game at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 22 Credit: Ed Murray
After Sunday’s 30-6 loss at Las Vegas, safety Xavier McKinney criticized the Giants coaching staff.
He said he did not think the team captains – nine remain after the trade of Leonard Williams – “were being heard.”
“I think that, from a leadership standpoint, I don't think they've done a great job of letting the leaders lead and listening to the leaders and the captains,” he said. “[You] have some of your leaders, captains from a defensive standpoint, trying to switch things up and just not really being heard.”
He added that there were “other things that we could’ve done” against the Raiders.
(About that, it’s hard to argue.)
“But when you got guys out there that are playing and seeing different things and are being vocal and communicating that with the coaches and whoever and are not being heard, it’s hard to go out there and be able to make plays and do things of that nature.”
McKinney, in his fourth season as a Giant, made those remarks to ESPN in the postgame locker room.
It was unclear about whom specifically McKinney was speaking.
And some of that is the byproduct of a season gone wrong halfway through the season.
“I don’t know exactly where he’s coming from or where he’s feeling that, but for me personally, I think we do a good job just being able to communicate with the staff," said tackle Andrew Thomas, another of the team's captains, on Monday. "Anything we need or any of our frustrations or whatever, any questions we have, I feel like they are pretty open.”
On Tuesday, McKinney said he had cleared the air with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
“We met and we’re going to keep pushing,” McKinney said. “We got on the same page. We’re keeping everything in house. We’re on good terms. Everything is good. We’re going to keep working and figure out how we can string these wins together. That’s really all that matters.”
McKinney made those comments Tuesday afternoon in Lodi, N.J., near the Giants' practice facility, where he sponsored a turkey giveaway at the American Eagle Food Pantry of Northern New Jersey.
“I’m really focused on this event,” McKinney said, “and trying to put smiles on everybody’s faces while we’re out here.”
In that, he clearly succeeded.
McKinney provided a donation that enabled the Pantry to feed 200 families, including a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with all the trimmings.
McKinney was engaging and wore a smile throughout the event. He gave out the turkeys personally, and many of the people receiving the meals hugged him, and some took pictures with him.
As for his conversation with Martindale, McKinney said, "He doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low. I think that’s the great part about him. He keeps his composure. He tells us all the time that, no matter what, he’s going to keep his composure. That’s still true in the time that I’ve known him and even when I’ve seen him coach at other places. There’s never a moment where he gets too high or too low, and that builds confidence throughout the team because that rubs off on us.”
McKinney, who is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the season, indicated that he loves being a Giant and would like to stay past this season.
That’s a conversation for another day.
On Tuesday, McKinney made a lot of families happy.
“I just like giving back,” he said. “Whenever I can give back to the community, it’s a great feeling. Being in the position that I’m in, I’m able to do things like this. It’s always fun just being able to see the smiles and, like I said, to help any way that I can. I try to provide that. I do it whenever I can. It’s a great feeling.”
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
