Rumormill: “Mad Mike” Martz in Baltimore?
December 27th, 2007 by StephenIt should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone with a pulse that the Ravens are in desparate need of an offensive overhaul. Therefore, when people start putting one and one together, they sometimes get two, three… or Martz.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Lions’ Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz may be on the move in 2008.
Martz has a long-standing reputation as an offensive ‘genius’ (sound familiar to anyone else?), leading the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory as an OC and a Super Bowl appearance as a HC. Previously, he served as the QB coach of the Los Angeles Rams (1992-94), WR coach of the St. Louis Rams (1995-96) and QB coach of the Washington Redskins (1997-98) before becoming the Rams’ OC in 1999, when he led the Rams to victory in Super Bowl XXXIV.
During the seven-year tenure with the St. Louis Rams, Martz was involved with two of the franchise’s three Super Bowl appearances.
However, if you ask anyone in the Motor City about Martz, they’ll tell you that he failed to deliver the same high-octane offense that his reputation would lead you to expect. Again, sound familiar?
From the Detroit Free Press (plus bonus Edwin Mulitalo nugget):
Martz arrived here with a well-earned reputation as an offensive whiz. The problem is that when you bring in Martz, you get more than just his brain. You get a coordinator who still thinks of himself as one of the best head coaches in the league. You get a coach who expects to build his own offense, which is not necessarily the offense the head coach wants.
You get a man who bats his eyes at his own playbook. Martz would need a million X’s and O’s to show how he feels about his X’s and O’s.
And because Martz sees himself as chairman of the NFL chapter of Mensa, he expects to have more input into personnel than most offensive coordinators. That’s a problem, because Martz’s talent evaluation needs some work.
Martz on Tatum Bell, before this season: “Tatum right now is a different level. He’s better than I thought he’d be, to be honest with you … He’s the whole package. … He’s got so much juice to him.”
Bell has not played since early October.
Martz on the talent on this year’s offense: “We don’t feel short anywhere.”
Martz on new offensive linemen George Foster and Edwin Mulitalo: “I think that George and Edwin are substantially better than maybe what we had at this point last year.”
Foster was a total bust and Mulitalo, who missed Sunday’s game with a concussion, has been mediocre.
So I’m here as a voice of reason: as nice as it would be to bring in Martz to reform our offensive system, as nice as it would be to see Martz using 4 WR sets like they were going out of style, as nice as it would be to see Martz using two TEs as receivers, not blockers, I just don’t see it happening.
Mike Martz and Brian Billick have egos bigger than the world’s largest artichoke. Do you really think that Newsome and Biscotti would let something like that happen?
Posted in 2007 Season, Uncategorized |
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
You can’t be serious… I agree that Martz can’t be left in charge of personel acquisitons, but Oz is the best IMO, at that. At least first day picks, but what Mike can do with the talent Oz gets him, would be outstanding. I think you need to re-think you observations. Billick wasted his time with Boller, when he had Troy ready to go. I don’t think that will be a problem with Martz, he likes to put the best talent on the field. At least he can admit when he is wrong, and go in another direction. Don’t put to much faith into your “optimistic” observations, because sometimes they are clouded by personal judgement pesimism.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:08 pm
@ LithoMan:
I’ve lived in St. Louis my entire life. I follow the Rams with close to the same level of interest I follow the Ravens. As my hometown team, if I have sports talk radio on in my car, the shower, my office, etc — I hear about the Rams.
That said, I’ve lived through the Mike Martz eras of Rams football. While wildly successful offensively, he inherited a few pro bowlers in their primes (Bruce, Falk, Holt) and caught lighting in a bottle with Kurt Warner - a prototypical Martz system QB.
I agree that he can develop a great system QB — something that Billick has failed to do in his tenure as the Ravens HC — but I just don’t like his game management abilities. If you thought that Billick was bad with challenges and clock management, just you wait… Martz is legendary (he called a time out after the first snap in Week 1 in his last season as HC in STL).
It’s worth noting that this post was made before Billick was fired. Maybe, given the right circumstances, Martz can succeed under the right HC. I agree completely about Ozzie’s draft success, and hope that the new HC is able to take advantage of the personnel on hand with his assistant coach selections. If Martz factors in to those plans, I’ll be behind the decision. I may not like it, but I’ll give it a shot. After all, if Billick could fire Fassel mid-season, what’s stopping the new HC?
January 4th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I agree with ya on that, Billick knew he was on the chopping block, and got rid of Fassell, which dis-heartened me. I thought Billick should of been gone before now, but at least the Ravens can get on to business again. I am a departed Phin fan that is looking for a new home to go to. I totally hate the decisions made in Miami, and a lifelong Phin fan is out of routing for Miami. Parcells will be death to the Phins. I admire Oz and his decsisions, accept keeping Billick a year too long, but that could be attributed to the new owner. I won’t doubt Oz.
I just hope he values the person, not his past. As for attitude and ego, what great player or coach doesn’t have such attributes. They must be doing something right to win and get rings.
You ever seen Martz’ playbook? Oh, theres only close to a 1000 plays in it. I am an OSU fan, and I know Troy can be great, if he is given half a chance. I beleive in him, and hope Oz does too. After witnessing racist actions in Miami this last year at the head of the organization with one of the greatest QB’s to play the game, Im done with that club. I think Billick got fired because of how he treated Troy. Im cool with that!
I hope Oz gives Martz a chance, and if he does,a dn Martz dont fit, then that all good…. I’m just waiting for the outcome of the new coach decision…..See if I can get behind the Ravens.