Patriots find rookie star; NY revenge game: Peter Schrager's Cheat Sheet

By Peter Schrager
FOX Sports NFL Analyst

We often circle "revenge games" on the calendar and hype them to no end. 

Tom Brady's return to New England was hyped as such a year ago, but it was nothing but love from the Foxboro fans once Brady arrived, and Mac Jones played really well, too. Brady hugged Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick and played well enough to get the win. The "revenge" thing fell kind of flat. 

This season, Russell Wilson played the Seahawks in Week 1, and it seemed like the fans wanted (and got) a pound of flesh far more than the one-time Super Bowl champion returning home. 

You go through the list of player "revenge" games, and you'll see it's often not as dramatic as we hope. With the exception of Brett Favre lighting up Lambeau Field in his first trip back, the whole thing is usually overblown. 

But what about coaches? Think they want it?

Though I haven't spoken to him directly this week, I'd assume Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale would really, really, really like to beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in New York (1 p.m. ET). 

Wink was the DC in Baltimore from 2018 to 2021. In his first three seasons, the Ravens ranked in the top five in total defense every season. The beloved DC was known not only for his all-out blitz tactics, but also for his bravado on the sidelines. 

Blessed with a glorious mullet you don't see too often in the 2020s, Martindale's defense was so successful during Lamar Jackson's 2019 MVP season that he interviewed for head-coaching jobs, including the then-vacant opening in New York with the Giants. Joe Judge got the gig, Martindale returned to Baltimore, and the 2020 Ravens boasted one of the best defenses in the league. 

In 2021, the injury bug stung Baltimore, and it stung fast. Stars such as Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey were lost to injury, and the hits kept coming. With Jackson, Ronnie Stanley and their projected starting backfield all out for significant time or the entire season, the Ravens struggled to win games late in the season and the defensive numbers took a massive hit, too. 

At the end of the season — one in which the Ravens were still alive until the final week of the year — Wink Martindale and John Harbaugh parted ways. 

At 59 years old and suddenly unemployed for the first time in years, Martindale was on the open market. John Harbaugh opted to bring back Mike MacDonald, a 35-year-old whiz kid who he'd worked with years ago and just spent a season with his brother, Jim, as defensive coordinator in Ann Arbor. 

Martindale says he and John Harbaugh are on good terms, and there's still great love there. But if you know Wink Martindale, you know there's a competitive fire that has been burning since the decision to move on was made. 

Newly hired Giants coach Brian Daboll wanted an aggressive defensive coordinator, but also another senior voice in his locker room. There was Martindale waiting, more than happy to become the DC for the franchise that interviewed him for the big job a few years back.

Five weeks into the 2022 season, the Giants (4-1) are the surprise team of the league, and their defense — a much beleaguered unit a year ago — is flying all over the field. 

In the Giants' comeback win over Green Bay on Sunday in London, the Big Blue defense didn't allow a single point in the second half. After Green Bay racked up 199 yards in the first half, they put up just 102 in the second. 

New York is getting production out of players they've been waiting to see develop and doing so in big moments. Dexter Lawrence, a first-round pick acquired in the Odell Beckham trade, is flashing at defensive tackle in ways he hasn't in his career. Tae Crowder has been excellent; Xavier McKinney has been electric. 

And in come the Ravens. Their defense has surrendered big plays all season, and Baltimore (3-2) has given up multiple double-digit halftime leads. But last week, the Ravens D seemed to figure itself out a bit. They muzzled Joe Burrow and the Bengals and limited the defending AFC champs to just 17 points. 

If any defensive coach has had eyes on Lamar Jackson, it's Martindale. If any defensive coach knows Greg Roman's offense inside and out — with the exception of Vic Fangio — it's probably Martindale. And if any defensive coordinator knows how to fire up his players, it's Martindale. 

He might still love Harbaugh, and Harbaugh might still love him, but there's a 30-something roaming those Ravens sidelines at defensive coordinator this season, not the longtime assistant with the glorious mullet. 

I don't buy the revenge game stuff too often. It's a business. This one feels like a revenge game. 

2. New star in New England

The Patriots have long been known for finding under-the-radar defensive talent in the draft and developing those players into superstars. 

You can name the decade, and there's a list of late-round picks who ended up becoming defensive mainstays for Bill Belichick. It appears as though New England has found a new gem, and it came in the form of a fourth-round pick in April's draft. 

Jack Jones is a problem. And the league has been put on notice. 

The first-year cornerback was just the fourth player in NFL history to return an Aaron Rodgers interception for a touchdown, and he did so in dramatic fashion at Lambeau Field in Week 4.

In Week 5, Jones got his first career start, played 40 of 66 defensive snaps and had one of the most gorgeous interceptions of the season — a toe-tapping beauty along the sideline that wasn't some fluke. The 24-year-old rookie is a magnet to the ball, and the fact he used to be a wide receiver in high school certainly helps 

He's also got quite a story. Jones started at USC, but was dismissed after the 2017 season due to academic issues. In 2018, he went to junior college, where he didn't play football and tried to get his grades up at Moorpark College. 

It was during that year away from the game that Jones was arrested for breaking into an empty restaurant, a Panda Express, in June 2018. Jones eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. He served 45 days on house arrest and decided to dedicate that time to rebuilding his life. 

Arizona State's Herm Edwards took a shot on Jones, and once he met with his future coach, things started to change. Once enrolled in Tempe, Jones got his grades up, his act together, and the football success followed. He had an All-Pac 12 Honorable Mention season in 2019, only to be suspended in 2020 for getting into a fight. Edwards, defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce and the rest of the Sun Devils staff stuck with Jones, and he returned in 2021 to have an outstanding final season. 

Belichick did his due diligence, and when the fourth round came along and Jones was still on the board, the Patriots made him their newest cornerback. Just six weeks into the season, he's a starter and a popular guy in the locker room. 

New England faces Cleveland on Sunday — a Belichick return to where he first became a head coach — and a big opportunity for Jones to snag a third interception in as many games. 

3. 49ers' fortitude

I can't lie. I am almost numb to 49ers injury news. 

With what this team has been through over the last several seasons, you almost come to expect massive adversity on the injury front year after year. 

In San Francisco's win over the Panthers in Week 5, the 49ers lost Emmanuel Moseley to a torn ACL in his knee (moments after he had a pick-six), Nick Bosa to a groin injury, Jimmie Ward to a broken hand and kicker Robbie Gould to a knee injury when he threw his body into a return man. 

Those injuries could be added to a list that already included starters Arik Armstead, Trent Williams, Trey Lance and Elijah Mitchell. 

Still, the 49ers just plow ahead. They're spending the Week at the Greenbriar in West Virginia, straddling time between two road games in the Southeast. As the 49ers boarded their flight to West Virginia, the third such trip in as many years, a 49ers source dropped this nugget on me: For the third straight year, the team is heading into its annual West Virginia week coming off the news of a starter being lost to a torn ACL in the game prior. 

It was Bosa in 2020, Jason Verrett in 2021 and now Moseley in 2022. Those aren't good stats or cute water-cooler factoids any team wants to hear. 

And yet, there's San Francisco at 3-2 and sitting alone atop NFC West standings. With a win on Sunday in Atlanta (1 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App), the Niners will be 4-2 and right where they want to be. 

Don't cry for the 49ers and their injury woes. They don't want to hear it. They're numb to it, too. 

4. Baker's nightmare scenario

It has been bad for Baker Mayfield this season — far worse than even the most glum prognosticators or Baker "haters" could have projected. 

In what was dubbed as a "bet-on-himself" season, Mayfield has been among the most disappointing acquisitions in the entire NFL. With Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moor and a functional offensive line in front of him, Mayfield has struggled mightily. How bad has it been? 

ESPN has a metric called QBR. Roll your eyes, whatever. But it's a metric with the same factors measured for all quarterbacks across the board. There are 16 quarterbacks with a QBR over 50. There are 22 quarterbacks with a QBR over 40. There are 31 quarterbacks with a QB over 30. 

Baker Mayfield's QBR is last in the league among players who've started NFL games this season. He comes in with a QBR of 16.6. 

I have no idea what Baker Mayfield's market value is on the free-agent scene next March, but I'd imagine it's far less than what it was even just one month ago. 

5. Big dude in Houston 

It's hard not to love what Texans rookie running back Dameon Pierce has done over the last few weeks. 

The fourth-round selection out of Florida leads all rookie running backs in rushing yards this season, and he ranks in the top five overall in the NFL. But he's also doing it with an old-school, Earl Campbell, you-can't-bring-me-down style. 

Pierce forced 17 missed tackles as the Texans earned their first win in Jacksonville, including a game-changing 20-yard run in which he broke six tackles and gained 22 yards after contact that made highlight reels all over the TV. 

It might have been the first great Texans highlight in two years. Expect plenty more. 

"D.P." is on a bye this week, but from sources in Houston, I'd imagine his load only increases when they travel to play the Raiders a week from Sunday. 

Peter Schrager is an NFL writer for FOX Sports and a host of "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network.