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. 

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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.