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MM had 1 interview with the Miami Dolphins but the Dolphins haven't had him back for a follow-up. Arizona, Atlanta, Oakland and Pittsburgh haven't shown any interest at all. What happened to MM? (the offensive genius)
Did his run ins with the Rams front office condem this man?
What else could it be?-01-16-2007, 12:18 PM -
By Greg A. Bedard
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
The Dolphins have interiewed nine candidates so far to find Nick Saban's replacement, and will make it an even 10 when Detroit Lions offensive coordinator and former St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz speaks to the Dolphins this week, according to a source.
The meeting, which will take place in Detroit, will likely come Thursday.
Martz, 56, compiled a 53-32 record with the Rams from 2000-2005 and a 3-4 mark in the post-season.
He led St. Louis to a 14-2 record in 2001 but was upset by the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
The Rams made the playoffs in four of Martz's six seasons as coach.
In 2005, Martz led the Rams to a 2-3 mark before a bacterial infection in his heart forced him to take a leave of absence.
Martz, who reportedly had several clashes with the front office, was let go after the season with one year remaining on his contract.
Martz was the Rams' offensive coordinator in 1999 when the team won the Super Bowl, thanks to Martz's offense, which was dubbed "The Greatest Show on Turf."-01-09-2007, 04:17 PM -
Martz bashers now have proof: He doesn't know the score
BY JEFF GORDON
Post-Dispatch Online Sports Columnist
09/03/2004
I believe we all like a little self-deprecating humor in our coaches. In a field of know-it-alls and Inventors of the Sport, the ability to mock oneself is an endearing quality.
We can only take so much of the Bill Walshs and Marty Schottenheimers of the world.
However, I'd like to use this corner of cyberspace to give Rams coach Mike Martz a little advice.
Never, never, NEVER come clean during a post-game news conference. Never admit to a lapse in your cognitive powers.
Never admit you didn't know what the score was in the last minute of a game.
You know how some citizens of Rams Nation are. They doubt Martz as a head coach and disparage his game management skills. They bristle every time he burns his timeouts, as he did in the second half of the Raiders game.
They hang on his every word, waiting for him to make an incriminating statement or use an improper tone of voice. There are folks who walk around town muttering one of Martz's favorite lines, "Shoot, we'll fix that," under their breaths.
As veteran talk show host Howard Balzer noted on 1380 ESPN Friday morning, Martz should NOT have made a confession after Thursday night's 28-24 loss at Oakland.
He admitted ordering Jeff Smoker to throw a sideline pass with nine seconds left, even though the Rams needed to get in the end zone.
"I can't believe I was yelling for a field goal," Martz told reporters. "That was the dumbest thing I've ever done as a football coach."
Oh, boy. You don't want to get Rams fans going down that road.
That was tantamount to throwing out a three-hour radio call-in topic. That was like throwing fresh hamburger into the shark tank. Fans will be eager to respond to that assertion.
"Smoker was yelling at me, 'Hey coach, we're down by four!'" Martz continued. "Can you imagine Jeff Smoker telling me what the score was?"
Everybody at once: YES!
Now I'm a pretty big Mike Martz fan. He inherited outstanding talent from Dick Vermeil, but he also had to rebuild an atrocious defense.
He has accomplished plenty on his own, including winning an NFC Championship and reaching postseason play three times.
The NFL is a tough place to coach, as Steve Spurrier would tell you. Rams fans tend not to give Mad Mike all the credit he deserves.
But Martz DOES do some goofy things. He seems to become immersed in his scripted play chart, to the point of becoming impervious to all the drama swirling around him.
When asked to comment on such-and-such an incident on the sidelines, Martz often has no idea what reporters...-09-03-2004, 04:19 PM -
Head Coach Mike Martz
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
(Opening statement)
“The Bills, obviously at home, have played very well. Defensively, they are one of the top teams in the league. The defensive line, particularly the two tackles, are very physical guys that are very disruptive. Of course we know what London (Fletcher) is. With his range he is very active and very involved in both the passing game and run game. Offensively, both backs I think are outstanding. (Willis) McGahee has really taken off and done a great job. Any game on the road like this is very difficult in the NFL as you know. As our players learned down in Miami, you have to bring your best every week. I think this is a better football team then Miami obviously, and we know that we are in for a dog fight when we get up there. We will prepare as such.”
(On the players reacting to the tougher practices)
“I don’t know if it was any tougher, we tackled. We went back to basics. I think we’re all upset with ourselves as well as the players in terms of the attitude. Sometimes you let things slip and as I said last week, sometimes what you see is what you coach. So we had to go back to basics, and we will again do that today. We’ve got to block and tackle better we just do, that’s the basis of this game. If you don’t enjoy those things you’re not going to play well. They enjoy it, they had a good time out there on Wednesday. Practice was a lot of fun, they got into it pretty good, and I’m sure they will do it again today. We got better. We’re not where we need to be but we’re making progress and that’s all you can ask. We have a lot of young players on defense who have to learn how to stay at a high level and get off of that roller coaster, and this is probably the best way that you can avoid that.”
(On keeping up his attitude with his team)
“I’ve been with some of these guys for a long time, and I think they understand my frustrations too. Not just with them, but with myself and not realizing what was going on sometimes. I think it really comes down to, more than anything else, is everybody being on the same page to make it right. They know that we are always going to try and do the right thing by them. None of this was ever intended to or meant as any type of punishment. If you get mad at football teams and start taking it out on them, then you’re going to lose your team. You need to get out of coaching and get an attitude readjustment. It was never about that, It’s about going back to basics, getting your feet on the ground, getting physical again, and enjoying that part of the game.”
(On missing LB London Fletcher)
‘There’s no question that we miss London. He was such a good leader on this team and so productive. You go back and look at the years that he was here, he is hard to replace. Guys that didn’t practice at a certain level, he was right there in their face. He demanded it out...-11-18-2004, 12:28 PM -
Martz on Tuesday: 'We know what the issues are'
Compiled by Jeff Gordon
STLtoday.com Sports
Tuesday, Nov. 30 2004
The Rams defense lost its fight Monday night in Green Bay. Coach Mike Martz
drew that obvious conclusion after reviewing the debris from that 45-17 loss at
Lambeau Field.
“I was very pleased with the first few series, anyway,” Martz said at his
Tuesday news conference. “As the second half moved on, I was disappointed
defensively just in some of the errors and mistakes that began to occur, guys
out of position. At one point, we had 10 people on the field. Those things are
unacceptable. We began to lose our focus somewhat on defense.
“It’s kind of a personal thing with some of these guys. We can’t lose the
resolve when things go bad. In the past, we’ve always been able to rebound. . .
. As it snowballed, they had a hard time with that.
“Some of the veterans, they get frustrated, they try to do a little bit more
than what they need to. They’ve got this gap and you try to do it all. You
think the ball is going there and you run over there and you’re not where the
ball is coming out.
“We’ve got to get this team playing better. It’s a step-by-step process. We’ve
got some veterans not playing as good as they should, or as well as they have
in the past, and some young guys learning how to play. That’s not a good
combination.”
* * *
More from Martz's press conference:
On the team’s porous rushing defense:
“As the game wore on, our run fits and fills were not what they should be. It’s
not a question of what defense you run or being complicated or anything like
that. It’s just having the discipline and resolve to fill where you’re supposed
to and you've got to make a play, make a tackle.
“When Aeneas (Williams) went out at free safety, there was significant
confusion out there, some of the calls and what not. We had a hard time on
their field. That may have contributed to some of the problems.
“We just have to be more physical and more disciplined in how we play. We know
what the issues are. It’s easy to look at the tape and find out ‘here’s what
you didn’t do right.’ You have to be tough enough as players and be accountable
enough to make those corrections and understand the discipline of playing the
defense. It’s that simple."
On the ill-fated fake field goal attempt:
“The decision was my decision, kind of at the last second, really. I just felt
like at that point we needed to try to make something happen. We talked about
it during the week and we felt like we had a pretty good opportunity to make
that...-11-30-2004, 11:50 PM