49eres Hire Mike Martz As Offensive Coordinator

[grunt]

Quote: Originally Posted by Psyblast

And yet they still swan dove, and contrary to popular belief, it didn't all fall on the defense.

I felt that next year this team would have been a very good offense.

[mudtiger]

From a rams on again and off again fan, good luck You'll have some games where you will absolutely love him and his offense, but after a while when teams figure out any new wrinkles he puts in his offense and martz does not adjust, you'll grow to hate him. I look forward to many 'why didn't we give the ball to Gore more' 49er posts.

[The Chef]

Quote: Originally Posted by oakfan162

I don't like it at first blush, but at least its a name. Maybe it will attract some FA WR's that wouldn't have looked at SF before. I'm going to restrain myself and say "lets wait and see", but honestly, I'm disappointed.

That was my first thought but when the best free agent WR's are Bryant Johnson and DJ Hackett I highely doubt the signing of Martz would influence their decision to come here or not come here. Im holding out hope that this works out but I have little faith based on Martz track record. How many times is Martz going to get credit for Marshall Faulk anyways? It seems so many people want to act like Martz made Faulk forgetting that Faulk was a pretty good player in Indy before he went to the Rams, Gore is not Marshall, he doesnt provide the huge mismatches in the passing game like Marshall, Gore is a more physical runner then Marshall but unless this zebra, ie. Martz, figures out a way to change its stripes, I dont see Gore having the same type of success that Faulk had.

[GeePee20]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pimping219

That was my first thought but when the best free agent WR's are Bryant Johnson and DJ Hackett I highely doubt the signing of Martz would influence their decision to come here or not come here. Im holding out hope that this works out but I have little faith based on Martz track record. How many times is Martz going to get credit for Marshall Faulk anyways? It seems so many people want to act like Martz made Faulk forgetting that Faulk was a pretty good player in Indy before he went to the Rams, Gore is not Marshall, he doesnt provide the huge mismatches in the passing game like Marshall, Gore is a more physical runner then Marshall but unless this zebra, ie. Martz, figures out a way to change its stripes, I dont see Gore having the same type of success that Faulk had.

Under Martz:

Marshall Faulk lead the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2000, 2nd in 2001

He was 8th in 2001 in total rushing yards in the NFL and 5th in 2001

He was 8th in the NFL in rushing YPG in 2000 and 2nd in 2001.

Point is you could take away Faulk's receiving stats and he was still a top tier back on the ground. Martz knows Gore isn't the receiving threat that Faulk was so of course he's not going to be sending Gore deep.

[The Chef]

But why does everyone discount the team around Faulk, when you have Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce out there along with Faulk it takes a lot of the attention away from Faulk, or in other words you cant stack the box and make them beat you in the air because they could and would.

In SF they dont have any receivers that strike fear in anyone, Darrell Jackson, Arnaz Battle, Ashley Lelie and Jason Hill dont scare anyone and Alex Smith isnt going to set the world on fire either, and this allows teams to stack the box against SF and gang up on Gore.

Faulk was an incredible back, Martz was the beneficiary of being the OC on a team that had a ton of weapons and all he had to do was sit back and watch it all unfold, hence the reason that he hasnt done a thing since leaving the Rams. I want to be optomistic, but Im so tried of hearing Martz get the benefit of the doubt in terms of using the running game and using Faulk as an example, how long ago was that exactly? Why not use more recent examples, ie. Kevin Jones in Detroit?

EDIT- Since we are using stats for arguments sake I would like to also point out that Marshall never carried the ball more then 260 times the entire time he was in St Louis and that year he carried the ball 260 times he only averaged 18.57 carries per game that season and like I said numerous times before, Gore needs 20-25 carries a game.

Before you mention it, Faulk did catch approx. 80 balls per year and I know that, but as much as I like Gore, there is no way I can see him being as successful in the passing game when we provide zero threat of a deep ball and the defense can sit there in a cover 2 and negate the screen and or allow 4 yard dump offs to Gore.

[SPTO]

This will either be brilliant or cut short Alex Smith's career (that's if he's the starter next year) because Martz loves long developing routes and having his QBs doing 5-7 step drops. The Niners' O-Line isn't equipped to provide that kind of protection IMO.

On the other hand if it works out then everyone will say Martz is a genius again.

[The Chef]

Ok, I did some research on Martz and how the playcalling was last year while in Detroit and it really seems to support what I and others have said. Overall on the entire season Martz called a passing play 588 times or 36.75 attempts per game while calling running plays 326 times or 20.38 attempts per game. Detroit had numerous games where they ran the ball less then a total of 10 times in a game, vs Arizona (45-8 pass-run), vs. Minnesota (36-7 pass-run) and vs SD (47-9 pass-run). When you throw in other totals like 48-17 pass-run vs Green Bay in week 17, or 43-11 pass-run vs the Giants, I think anyone can see how this hire can easily blow up in the face of the Niners, and hence the reason why Im really hesitant to get excited over this hire. The one game where it was completely lopsided but understandable was the game vs Philly since they fell behind before the game started, and in that game they had a pass-run ratio of 46-12.

[jfsolo]

I think this is Martz's last chance to get it done in the NFL. If he was a different personality type I could see him getting another opportunity somewhere else, but given that he seems to grate on people rather quickly, he has to succeed big in S.F. or he's finished. So we'll see if he can finally subjugate his ego, and play to the strengths of his personnel.