Oops! Martz still wincing after goof at end of game

**RamWraith** · #1 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

09/03/2004
Mike Martz knows well how preseason games sharpen player focus and help them purge mistakes before the games that matter. And with a blush of embarrassment Friday, the Rams coach conceded how exhibition games can even expose goofs of his own.

On Thursday night in the Rams' preseason finale at Oakland, Martz watched the Raiders take a 27-24 lead with 38 seconds left when third-string quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo hit Alvis Whitted for his second TD reception of the game.

On the extra-point try, Martz -- angry that Oakland had scored -- saw the holder drop the ball and looked away, never seeing Sebastian Janikowski boot the ball through the uprights to push the margin to four points.

"I saw the kick, and the kick to me looked like it went off to the left, and I turned," Martz said. "I just kind of thought they missed it, and `Good, we'll get down there and tie it up.'

"Just like a knucklehead, I didn't look at the scoreboard and made the assumption" the Rams were just down by three.

Behind third-string quarterback Jeff Smoker, the Rams marched downfield. At Martz's behest, Smoker threw a sideline pass -- a 10-yard completion that put St. Louis at the Oakland 34 with 9 seconds left -- to set up a possible field goal.

A field goal, with St. Louis down by four?

"Smoker came over and the look on his face was, `What, are you nuts?"' Martz said. "Then I realized I was screwed up, and we threw it in the end zone."

Smoker's desperation pass into the end zone was intercepted as time expired.

Moments later, Martz came clean about his lapse and called it "the dumbest thing I've ever done as a football coach," asking "Can you imagine Jeff Smoker telling me what the score was?"

The next day, Martz still winced about being asked to retell it all.

"It's hard for me to stand here in front of you today and admit to that," he said, his face turning red. "I could have kept it quiet, but I'm just being very honest with you."

So why admit it in the first place, a reporter asked.

"Well, it happened. It's the truth, isn't it?" Martz replied politely, his voice quieting. "Sometimes the truth does hurt."

By Friday, Martz was lamenting that the goof was "getting a lot more attention than I want it to get."

"I think in a regular-season game I'm a little bit more tuned in, maybe," he said.

Martz expects to prove that Sept. 12, when the Rams open the regular season at home against Arizona.

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**evil disco man** · #2 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

Quote:

"I think in a regular-season game I'm a little bit more tuned in, maybe," he said.

Maybe. We'll see.

*adarian_too* · #3 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evil Disco Man

Maybe. We'll see.

More like maybe not, which is what we have already seen.

*Caramsfan* · #4 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

Egad's. If I was was Martz's boss, I'd say in my best Darth Vader Voice, "I find your lack of situational awareness disturbing " How far up his culo does Martz keep his head that he can't seem to spot a 100 foot tall scoreboard?
If he wanted to keep any shread of credibility with his detractors he should have kept that one between him and Smoker.
He's oblivious and incapapble of multitasking in a manner befitting the job description of the head honcho. I could say more and get really negative here but from players injuries, to the handling of Warner, to the cavalier use of timeouts, to the 85% pass to run ratio against 6 and 7 defensive back sets in the Superbowl, Martz's EGOwon't let him use the people around him that could help him maintain an even keel in the heat of battle.
In his current state, he belongs in the booth, at best making play suggestions, not attempting to run the whole show to which he has shown time after time he has nothing but tunnel vision or attention deficit disorder or SOMETHING!

Just makes you wonder if it's true when his detractors say he has done less with more that any coach in modern football history.

*adarian_too* · #5 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caramsfan

... he has done less with more that any coach in modern football history.

I wonder how one would go about tracking something like that? It sounds like one of those lists one tries to avoid.

*1st & Goal* · #6 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

Everyone needs to take a deep breath. This was a pre-season game that means nothing. It was used to give the coaching staff the opportunity to look at players on the bubble before Sundays cuts. NO MATTER WHAt some will not get off his back regardless of how many wins he gets. It is always about the lose and running him out of town.

*r8rh8rmike* · #7 (**permalink**) -04-09-2004

Quote:

NO MATTER WHAt some will not get off his back regardless of how many wins he gets. It is always about the lose and running him out of town.

I think a lot of us would gladly get off his back if the never ending pattern of goofy, often moronic behavior ceased or even lessened. So far that has not happened. I can only hope the regular season will be different.

*Yodude* · #8 (**permalink**) -05-09-2004

Quote:

This was a pre-season game that means nothing.

That's true, and if pre-season was the only time we saw these kinds of situations, no one would care. However, Martz has shown that these mental lapses on his part are in no way confined to pre-season games, that is why people seem to be making more of this than you might think they should.

*r8rh8rmike* · #9 (**permalink**) -05-09-2004

Let's just hope the players aren't having the same discussions we are.