Ready for his close-up
Martin likely will start vs. Rams
By Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Sept. 24, 2009
Recenty acquired safety Derrick Martin is anxious to make his first NFL start, which is likely to be Sunday afternoon when the Packers square off against the Rams in St. Louis.
Green Bay Derrick Martin has never started a National Football League game at safety, but in about 72 hours there's a very good chance he will be lining up on defense with the Green Bay Packers at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Sunday will mark only the three-week anniversary of Martin joining the Packers from the Baltimore Ravens in a trade for tackle Tony Moll, but a rash of injuries and personnel moves have vaulted him up the depth chart and into a pretty critical role for the Packers.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy hasn't officially chosen between Martin and Jarrett Bush to replace the injured Atari Bigby (ankle) and the recently released Aaron Rouse, but it's no secret Martin is the top choice. He has lined up with the starters in practice while Bush has been nursing a sore ankle that, when all is said and done, may not even be a factor in the decision.
The 5-foot-10, 198-pound Martin comes from a 3-4 defense in Baltimore where he played both cornerback and safety, and was fortunate to learn from perennial all-pro Ed Reed and veteran Jim Leonhard. His three career starts were all at cornerback, but he has been playing safety exclusively since the end of last season and is eager to show his new teammates he belongs.
"When I got here, I was happy they brought me here," Martin said. "That showed me they had confidence in me. Then once they were able to put me into a game situation, that's a great honor for me, especially in this green and gold. There have been so many people who have passed through this locker room who have won championships, I'm just happy to be out there."
The Packers felt so strongly about Martin's special teams ability that he practically stepped off the plane from Baltimore and into a slot on the team's two coverage units. With only four days practice, he played against the Chicago Bears in the opener and last week graduated to playing on all four special teams units against Cincinnati.
Martin currently is tied with Korey Hall for second in special teams tackles with three.
Though Martin doesn't look the part of a strong safety, he'll probably end up playing there a lot because Nick Collins needs to be in the deep backfield as much as possible. With Collins coming off a painful chest injury, it might be better for Martin to be up doing the heavy hitting and limiting the pounding Collins takes.
Over the past two weeks, Martin has learned more of the strong safety position than free safety.
"I think anytime you're trying to get someone ready to play, especially when they arrive after training camp, it's probably smarter to maximize in one area over the other," coach Mike McCarthy said earlier this week. "But he has a lot of carry-over because of his experience in Baltimore. It's more of a new language to him.
"He's very bright, he's jumped in there, he's been productive on special teams. I've been very pleased with his production on special teams, and with his opportunity on defense, I look for him to take full advantage of it."
Martin said it's OK to assume that at his size he's not going to be a big hitter, but when you consider that he has been the wedge buster on kickoff coverage the past two weeks it's clear size doesn't matter to him. Lining up next to kicker Mason Crosby, Martin goes down the field and takes on the two-man wedge - usually made up of offensive linemen - with as much force as he can.
Martin's hitting ability is part of what made the switch to safety more attractive for the Ravens. In the Packers' defense part of his job will be filling the role as the eighth man in the box, similar to what Pittsburgh's Troy Polamalu and Indianapolis' Bob Sanders do for their respective teams.
"I love playing in the box," Martin said. "I think playing in the box is like playing on kickoff returns. All you have to do is make the tackle in a small space. You have those smaller safeties like Polamalu (5-10, 207) and (Buffalo's) Donte Whitner (5-10, 208), who just don't care and get in there and hit. Just like a small running back has to find a hole before you find them, you find the hole before they find it."
It has been a big week for Martin.
On Monday, his wife gave birth to a daughter, the couple's second child. On Wednesday he found out that Rouse had been released and that he would be in line to start. Now it looks like he's going to get the call, and the best way for him to finish out the week would be to help limit St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson to minimal yardage.
The good news for him is that it looks like Collins will be able to play after suffering a chest injury that knocked him out of the Bengals game in the second quarter. He practiced in pads Wednesday and Thursday and performed well enough that McCarthy said after practice Thursday, "I anticipate Nick will go."
"If I start, there are going to be three Pro Bowlers back there with me," Martin said in reference to Collins and cornerbacks Charles Woodson and Al Harris. "I feel confident. I have a Pro Bowler on the right, the left and the middle. I think I'm going to be all right."