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Diner Morning News: Where's Martz?

Michael Lombardi

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FROM MICHAEL LOMBARDI:

20 March 2009

QUOTE:   “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.”  ~ Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)

FROM JOHN CRUMPACKER OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE... (Mike) Martz, 57, did not return a phone call from the Chronicle seeking further reaction to what was his third firing in the last four seasons. The Lions fired him as offensive coordinator after the 2007 season and the Rams dismissed him as their head coach after '05. San Francisco has been a way station for offensive coordinators of late, with Martz being the sixth in the last six years. The 49ers ranked 32nd and last in the NFL in total offense in 2007 under coordinator Jim Hostler and were 23rd this season under Martz, including 13th in passing offense. The 49ers scored 120 more points and generated nearly 1,200 more yards this season than in '07.  Their seventh offensive coordinator in seven years will install yet another system when the 49ers gather for the first time in 2009 for a spring mini-camp.  With Martz running the show, Frank Gore was a 1,000-yard rusher and Shaun Hill the 12th-ranked quarterback in the league, ahead of more well-known players at the position as Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Jay Cutler, Jake Delhomme, Brett Favre and Ben Roethlisberger.

This is a story I have wanted to write for some time because I think it’s unfair that Mike Martz is not coaching in the NFL this year.  Martz is one of the best offensive coaches in the league, he has an incredibly creative offensive mind and he makes the quarterback play at a higher level. 

I received an e-mail from a reader saying I was being too hard on Shawn Hill’s talent, and I might have been too quick to dismiss his ability to lead the 49ers to the promise land.  That e-mail also forced me to rethink the 49ers’ firing of Martz and how their dismissal of him is what made me believe that Shawn Hill is not a starter. 

Being a successful offensive coordinator requires having a sense of pride of authorship in your work, which is a very nice way of saying you have an ego.  Martz takes tremendous pride in his work, and some in the league feel he’s statistic-oriented in order to help his quest to become a head coach once again.  So what’s wrong with being ambitious?  What’s wrong with wanting to prove wrong everyone who has smeared your career?  It’s only bad if it gets in the way of winning, if it becomes bigger than the team.  Isn’t that the head coach’s job, to make sure this doesn’t happen?  Being a head coach requires you to inspire and lead the people in doing what you want done.  Leaders do the right things, managers do them right. 

I heard all the talk last season about how the Lions were going to go back and be a run team, that getting rid of Martz would allow them to protect the ball, run more and manage the game in a more efficient way.  Well, how did that work?  The Lions lost all 16 games, but I promise you, had Martz been the offensive coordinator last year, they would have won a game or two.  In Detroit, the offensive theory after firing Martz is the same theory now in San Francisco.  The team wants to return to a running game, but all they return to is a bad offense.  The 49ers don’t want to throw the ball more than 30 times and they want to establish the run.  This is the same organization that invented the west coast offense built on the theory that you have to throw the ball to run. Establishing the run only means you are kicking field goals. 

Here’s an article I wrote last year about destroying some myths in the NFL:

YOU MUST ESTABLISH THE RUN EARLY IN THE GAME

Every time I turn on a NFL game, the first comment that makes me hit the mute button is when announcers start talking about establishing the running game and expanding on the virtues of how the running game will set up the entire offensive playbook.  What hogwash -- is anyone paying attention to what is going on in the NFL today?  The running game in the first half doesn’t set up anything other than field goal attempts and potentially low-scoring games.  In fact, the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL last season, the Minnesota Vikings, failed to make the playoffs.  No. 2?  The Oakland Raiders -- another non-playoff team.  Who is behind this “establish the running game early” myth? 

Football is a complicated and complex game.  It’s a chess match each week.  “They have a very smart coaching staff and we have a very smart coaching staff," New York Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles said prior to opening the NFL season against the Patriots.  "They basically use us as chess pieces.  How they position us to play this game that is the main thing now.  Whoever can make the adjustments the best and the fastest will probably have the edge.”  Coles clearly understands today’s NFL.  The chess pieces are moving through the air now.  Teams are more proficient throwing the ball and establishing the pass earlier in the game.  In addition, when you throw the ball in the first half, you can score points -- building the lead — giving your team an excellent chance to win.    

One of the masters of the pro football version of chess was the late, great Bill Walsh.  Walsh built an offense called the “west coast offense,” and many teams in the NFL run a variation of his well-designed attack.  However, the west coast offense is really a “philosophy,” not a system of plays.  It is based on throwing the ball early in the game and building a lead, then running the ball to keep the lead.  Walsh wanted to take short passes and use the skill and quickness of the wideouts to run with the ball -- instead of trying to design running plays that would gain the NFL average of 4.0 yards per attempt.  

The NFL is a passing league, and teams that come out and try to find balance with their play calling in the first half are bucking the recent trend.  You have to throw to score in the NFL.  Over half of the NFL had a 57-percent pass ratio in the first half.  For example, last year, Seattle was 31st in the NFL in runs called in the first half but 13th in runs called in the second half.  Green Bay, 29th first half runs called, 19th in the second half; Indy, 28th in first-half runs called, seventh in the second; Dallas, 27th in first-half runs called, 11th in the second; and New England, 26th in first-half runs called, 14th in the second.  These run/pass ratios are exactly the theories that went into building the west coast. 

-------------------------

So if the NFL is a passing league, why is Mike Martz unemployed?  If you need the threat of a passing game to run the ball, much like the 49ers had last year, why is Martz still not working? My sense of his situation has nothing to do with his knowledge or his talent. My sense is that it’s insecure coaches who don’t want to lead Mike but would rather turn over their offense to him and then complain that he’s not running the ball.  Martz has too much talent to be sitting on the sidelines this year, and it will be interesting to watch the 49ers get back to the run, just like the Lions did in ‘08. 

Have a great weekend, and I hope all your brackets are going well.

Comments

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Neal
Mar 20, 2009
09:55 AM

Maybe Denver shouldn't have let Jeremy Bates walk, but if Denver had hired a Leslie Frazier, Spanuolo, Raheem Morris Defensive type, then Martz would have been a great hire for the Broncos at O Coordinator. Recall, he gave Jay Cutler basically the highest draft grade he had ever given a QB. Plus, Denver wouldn't be in this mess if they had a defensive guy paired up with Mike Martz, who I think is more proven than the latest guy to make millions off of Bill Belicheck's name

Raider4Life
Mar 20, 2009
09:57 AM

4 out of the 5 teams that you say have favorable run/pass ratios DID NOT make the playoffs. That's an 80% failure rate for the vaunted West Coast offensive system.

Eric Green
Mar 20, 2009
10:09 AM

R4L,
He was talking about 2007. He mentioned that the article was from last year.

I am kind of glad (selfish) that Martz didn't get a job this year. If Atlanta loses Mularkey, then I hope they have the balls to go after Martz. I would love to see Matt Ryan run Martz's offense.

Ben Allbright
Mar 20, 2009
10:12 AM

Uh, Raider4life, ALL of the run first teams didn't make the playoffs, for a 100% failure rate there...

just saying...

Scot
Mar 20, 2009
10:24 AM

My impression is that Martz is the coaching version of Terrell Owens - a distraction. Whether that's justified is not for me to say.

But interesting opinion that NFL teams are "insecure" and unwilling to "lead" when it comes to Martz, but somehow "smart" for not having the willingness to "lead" T.O.

Bill Parcells is my uncle
Mar 20, 2009
10:34 AM

Mike I always enjoy your writings - But you have a 100% miss on this one guy -

On your Martz quote of "Martz is one of the best offensive coaches in the league, he has an incredibly creative offensive mind and he makes the quarterback play at a higher level."

I have been saying that Martz will be out of the league for good within the next year since the start of the 2008 season - Martz is not one of the best offensive coaches in the league by any stretch of the imagination - As for his quarterbacks playing at a higher level, I guess if you want to look strictly at passing yards you could say this - But we both know there is so much more to the position - Better check Martz quarterbacks sack ratio and interception ratio in comparison to the rest of the league before proclaiming him a quarterback genius or offensive genius - In it's simplest terms, Martz puts his teams defense behind the 8 ball with his outdated schemes - Good riddance to Mike Martz who has been living off past reputation of one of the greatest offensive groups ever assembled (By Dick Vermeil) lead by future HOFers Marshall Faulk, Orlando Pace etc etc -

On your you don't need the run quote of " In fact, the No. 1 rushing team in the NFL last season, the Minnesota Vikings, failed to make the playoffs. No. 2? The Oakland Raiders — another non-playoff team."

First off, the Vikings did make the playoffs last year - Secondly Oakland wasn't the second best rushing team in the NFL, the Raiders ranked 10th in the league -

Here are the top 7 rushing teams in the NFL last year - All 7 were playoff teams except for New England and the Patriots had an 11-5 record -

1 NY Giants 157.4 Rushing Yards Per Game
2 Atlanta 152.7 RYPG
3 Carolina 152.3 RYPG
4 Baltimore 148.5 RYPG
5 Minnesota 145.8 RYPG
6 New England 142.4 RYPG
7 Tennessee 137.4 RYPG

Mel
Mar 20, 2009
10:45 AM

The one team that does 'establish the running game early' and needs to do so is the New York Giants (there may be other, the Panthers come to mind).

With the use of Brandon Jacobs, they are one of the most obvious teams to use their running game to wear down a defence later in the game by running early.

The Giants have an old time power back (in Jacobs) often playing against linebackers and secondary built to combat the speed backs (like Chris Johnson for example) in this decades NFL. His size and speed (along with the physicality of the Giants O-Line) does wear down a defence (which the other Giants runners exploit later).

Now certainly I'd say that most teams need to pass as well as run to produce a competitive offence (see the lack of balance from the Bronco's last season as an example) and that even the Giants need a good passing game to be competitive and to take advantage of when 8 and 9 men come up into the box.

But I'd say they are a team that needs to “establish the running game early” to win it's games because of the effect the run game has on the defence as a whole later in the game.

EddieMac
Mar 20, 2009
10:46 AM

This is great article on how the passing game is dominating the NFL. I also think you use the argument to show why the Broncos could never get over the hump.

They relied heavily on the run and let the QB manage the game. But all this did was lead to FGs not TDs. What made it worse was we had one of the best kickers in the game, so it always seemed to me that the offense would just relax once they passed the 30 yard line. It was almost as if the whole team was thinking, "Hey no big deal, Elam can knock it in here". This problem was compounded by a weak passing D. I love Champ, but our talent after him drops off a cliff and opposing teams always threw away form him.

I claim that Shanahan changed his philosophy after the butt kicking he received from Peyton and the Colts in the playoffs. Got serious about the secondary and young offensive talent in the passing game. However he was too stubborn or "took pride in his work" ;-) to really bring in the talent we needed on D to defend the pass. Notice the lack of a pass rusher since the departure of Trevor Pryce.

Bill Parcells is my uncle
Mar 20, 2009
10:54 AM

To add to how important running the ball is in the NFL - Let's look at the teams with over 10 wins last year and where they ranked running the football last season -

Tennessee 13-3 (7th)
NY Giants 12-4 (1st)
Carolina 12-4 (3rd)
Pittsburgh 12-4 (23rd)
Indianapolis 12-4 (31st)
Atlanta 11-5 (2nd)
Baltimore 11-5 (4th)
Miami 11-5 (11th)
New England 11-5 6th
Minnesota 10-6 5th

So there were 10 teams in the league last year that won 10 or more games - 8 out of 10 of these teams ranked in the top 11 teams in the NFL rushing the football -

While Pittsburgh had the best defense in the league and didn't generate much in either passing (17th) or rushing (23rd) and obviously were carried by the defense and ranked 5th in the league in time of possession - The Colts, well I guess one could say the Colts were the anomaly of the group winning 12 games with an offense rank of (13th) and a defense rank of (7th) -

Chad M.
Mar 20, 2009
10:55 AM

Bill is my uncle:
As he clearly states, his article was from last year. All those records are for the 2007 season...

kjf
Mar 20, 2009
10:58 AM

Another myth that drives me crazy is when tv people say "they will just put eight in the box and stop the run" As if teams don't design plays to run the ball effectively against an eight man front.

Or "hit short passes to gain confidence". Hitting a 3 yard flat pass and not converting on 3rd down doesn't give a offense confidence.

Sean
Mar 20, 2009
11:32 AM

Bill Parcells is my uncle: Here's the problem- you're mixing up cause and effect. Good teams don't win because they run the ball a lot. Good teams run the ball a lot because they are winning. If you look at the correlation between wins and rushing in the first and second quarters (you know, when teams are supposedly establishing the run and testing the defenses), it's pretty much nil.

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