Martin Turns Heads  in Secondary

Cornerback Derrick Martin wanted to make sure he looked good.

Filling in for veteran Samari Rolle, who has missed three games because of illness, and Corey Ivy, who moved back to his natural nickel back position, Martin excelled last week in San Francisco, tying for a team-high six tackles and helping hold the 49ers to just 126 passing yards.

Martin, in his second year out of Wyoming, has been battling to crack the starting lineup after the season opened with him third on the depth chart and earning his keep on special teams. The defensive back is tied for the team lead with seven special teams stops.

Not surprisingly, Martin stood out by blending in seamlessly with the Ravens' defense: hitting hard, listening to his coaches and having fun on the field.

All three of those are things Martin has been chomping at the bit to do.

"It's fun to be out there playing football again, after last year just getting the chance to play special teams and things of that sort," he said. "Being able to be out there on defense again like I was in college, it all started to come back to me."

Lining up alongside Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs, who comprise the backbone of a Ravens' defense Martin calls "the best [he's] ever seen," No. 29 impressed his teammates and coaches by implementing a physical style, including keeping his hands on opposing receivers while they run their routes and stepping up to make tackles in the running game.

"Being physical is something I pride myself on," he said. "If you get physical with your guy, get your hands on him, you'll win most of the races. You can stay with him on the routes and you don't get beat."

One receiver who knows Martin's style first hand is Ravens' wideout Demetrius Williams, common sparring partners during practice. He wasn't surprised by the tallies that Martin put in the tackles column last week.

"I think being physical is something that he carries with him," Williams said. "He's not afraid to come up and hit somebody, where most of the guys in this league don't want to do that."

While Martin's finding himself in the secondary may have come as a surprise to some, Ravens' secondary coach Dennis Thurman said that he earned it by being the most qualified applicant for the job.

"He's been practicing well," Thurman said. "When a guy goes down out there like Samari went down, it opens up an opportunity for a young guy to go in there and play. Derrick took it, and he was very serious about it. It was one of those things where you say, ‘Hey, I don't know who's going in, but the guy that practices the best is going to be the guy that we put in there.'"

Still, Thurman said that after more than a year of refining his technique in practice, Martin sewed his starting spot with his performance leading up to the trip to San Francisco.

"When he had his opportunity to cover guys one-on-one, he was doing that well," Thurman said. "He was making plays – I believe he had three or four interceptions last week in practice. He took his coaching seriously and by doing that, he was able to go out and play the game the way he should play it: with his eyes and his feet."

Thurman also touched on how physical Martin is, saying that his teammates feed off of Martin's intensity. That, along with his fun, out-going personality, helped the 22-year-old fit in.

Martin thinks it is easy to figure out why he looks like he's having so much fun on the field – it's the best place to do it.

"You gotta have fun when you're outside the house," Martin said. "I have a wife, a kid on the way, and my two cousins from Denver are with me and they just started high school at New Town and I take care of them, so when I'm here it's fun, it's just football. When I get home, I have to take care of business."

Thurman points out how important Martin is to the mix, commenting on how much his teammates like being around him.

"He always has a smile on his face, he really can be a little squirrelly at times," Thurman said with a chuckle. "He loves his body and he's not afraid to let you know he works on it and he'll show it off. The football aspect of it he takes serious, but off the field he's a fun-loving guy."

Thurman wasn't far off, either. When asked about whether or not Martin has trouble keeping his shirt on, cornerback Ronnie Prude, whose locker is next to Martin's, just scoffed.

"I come out there with my shirt off and let them see what they wish they had," Martin said. "It's something I pride myself on. I work hard. You know my man Ronnie Prude, he's jealous too, because my body looks better than his. I was overweight in the offseason then I got back down, so he's a little mad now."

His biceps and abdominals aren't the only thing Martin will be showing off this weekend when the Rams come to town. Though Rolle is anticipating being ready for Sunday's game, Martin has proved that he can hold his own defensively if Rolle doesn't start. With Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, and Drew Bennett, who had a big game against the Ravens last year for the Titans, coming to town, Martin expects to be ready.

He has to look good.