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BY JEFF GORDON
Post-Dispatch Online Sports Columnist
11/10/2004
Mike Martz was ticked off Sunday evening after his team lost to the New England Patriots.
He was still upset Monday afternoon when he broke down the game for reporters.
And he was absolutely furious this afternoon before taking his team back onto the practice field.
We’ve never seen Mike carry on like this at a news conference before. He became more and more agitated during his brief exchange with reporters.
“I’m not happy with how we’re playing, period, regardless of a division race or anything else,” he said. “I think the way we played the last two games was embarrassing. Not so much whether we win or lose the game, just the way we played the game, period. We’re going to do everything we can to rectify that.”
Can he go back to tape of the earlier Seattle victory and become energized by that?
“I don’t need to look at tape to get energized. Not me. I don’t have to look at a tape to go to a happy place, to get energized. That’s just not who I am, sorry.”
How did he assess the offensive line play after breaking down the tape?
“We made our corrections,” he said. “That was unusual. That is the exception to the rule with that group. I’ve been very pleased with that group overall most of the year. That was not one of our better performances, but I wouldn’t single them out.
“As a football team, we haven’t played well, period. We haven’t coached well, obviously, otherwise we’d play better. We can do something about all those things.”
Geez, Mike, you haven’t been like this since becoming head coach. How did it come to this?
“What difference does it make?
“I know what the problem is. I do know how to resolve it. I’m going to see if we can get it done.”
Will change come by doing things differently in practice; by saying different things to the team?
“I would expect us to come out and compete better. That’s what I would expect, as a football team. We have a core of guys that you can hang your hat on. You can get up in the middle of the night and go out and practice them and they will give you all they got.
“Now what we’re trying to do is get the rest of the guys up to that level. We were there for a while and we’ve fallen off a bit in a couple of key areas. This is about attitude, pure and simple.
“It’s not about ability. It never has been, never will be. Everybody in this league has the ability to play. Everybody is talented, everybody is fast, everybody is big, everybody is strong. If you think that’s the difference, you’re sorely mistaken. This is purely a game of attitude.”
Have any of the veteran players spoken up to the younger players?
“We don’t hold hands, get in a stance and sing Kumbaya My Lord. I’m not into that. We have a direction we’re going. You’re on the train or you’re not. If not, get out, period.
“I know where we’re going. I know where I’m going. You’re either with me or you’re not. Anything else? OK, thanks.”
And that was it. Martz stalked off, eager to get busy with his team. The first guy that got caught daydreaming on the practice field is probably still running sprints.
It was refreshing to see Mike worked into a lather. The days of “Shoot, we’ll fix it” apparently are gone -- as they should be.
As we’ve noted, it’s tough to change a team at this point in the season. Little can be done with personnel eight games into the campaign and a team’s attitude can become rigid, too.
Martz will try to fix that during the next few days. Mad Mike is now Furious Mike. We won’t know whether he got anybody’s attention until the Rams line up to face Seattle at noon Sunday.
Post-Dispatch Online Sports Columnist
11/10/2004
Mike Martz was ticked off Sunday evening after his team lost to the New England Patriots.
He was still upset Monday afternoon when he broke down the game for reporters.
And he was absolutely furious this afternoon before taking his team back onto the practice field.
We’ve never seen Mike carry on like this at a news conference before. He became more and more agitated during his brief exchange with reporters.
“I’m not happy with how we’re playing, period, regardless of a division race or anything else,” he said. “I think the way we played the last two games was embarrassing. Not so much whether we win or lose the game, just the way we played the game, period. We’re going to do everything we can to rectify that.”
Can he go back to tape of the earlier Seattle victory and become energized by that?
“I don’t need to look at tape to get energized. Not me. I don’t have to look at a tape to go to a happy place, to get energized. That’s just not who I am, sorry.”
How did he assess the offensive line play after breaking down the tape?
“We made our corrections,” he said. “That was unusual. That is the exception to the rule with that group. I’ve been very pleased with that group overall most of the year. That was not one of our better performances, but I wouldn’t single them out.
“As a football team, we haven’t played well, period. We haven’t coached well, obviously, otherwise we’d play better. We can do something about all those things.”
Geez, Mike, you haven’t been like this since becoming head coach. How did it come to this?
“What difference does it make?
“I know what the problem is. I do know how to resolve it. I’m going to see if we can get it done.”
Will change come by doing things differently in practice; by saying different things to the team?
“I would expect us to come out and compete better. That’s what I would expect, as a football team. We have a core of guys that you can hang your hat on. You can get up in the middle of the night and go out and practice them and they will give you all they got.
“Now what we’re trying to do is get the rest of the guys up to that level. We were there for a while and we’ve fallen off a bit in a couple of key areas. This is about attitude, pure and simple.
“It’s not about ability. It never has been, never will be. Everybody in this league has the ability to play. Everybody is talented, everybody is fast, everybody is big, everybody is strong. If you think that’s the difference, you’re sorely mistaken. This is purely a game of attitude.”
Have any of the veteran players spoken up to the younger players?
“We don’t hold hands, get in a stance and sing Kumbaya My Lord. I’m not into that. We have a direction we’re going. You’re on the train or you’re not. If not, get out, period.
“I know where we’re going. I know where I’m going. You’re either with me or you’re not. Anything else? OK, thanks.”
And that was it. Martz stalked off, eager to get busy with his team. The first guy that got caught daydreaming on the practice field is probably still running sprints.
It was refreshing to see Mike worked into a lather. The days of “Shoot, we’ll fix it” apparently are gone -- as they should be.
As we’ve noted, it’s tough to change a team at this point in the season. Little can be done with personnel eight games into the campaign and a team’s attitude can become rigid, too.
Martz will try to fix that during the next few days. Mad Mike is now Furious Mike. We won’t know whether he got anybody’s attention until the Rams line up to face Seattle at noon Sunday.
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