FanPost

Ramdude's Durdy Jawbs: Not So Magic Mike

Not ramdude (some other Mike)

"My name is ramdude, and this is my job today. I'll explore the Internet looking for dirt on people who deserve it — arrogant men or women who earn a living off the backs of civilized people like the rest of us. Now, get ready to get some dirt on ya." Tonight's episode is on Mike Martz.

Now that may sound remotely like something you have heard before - maybe on the Discovery Channel before September 2012??? If so, I'm sorry. Dave Barsky said I could.

While I've been a Rams fan since the late 60s, most of that time it has not been easy keeping track of the ins and outs of the team being at least half a continent away - plus I was busy raisin young-uns. I didn't know about TST until 2009. The Rams web site was pretty lame before that (but more informative about Rams history than now). And, of course, the Interwebs didn't exist for much of that time.


The reason I felt compelled to splain that is I have a severe reaction to the name Mike Martz. Whenever Fisher pulls a numb-nut and half the crowd here wants his ass canned, someone invariably mews from the back of the room, "We oughta get Martz!" That usually results in the contents of my stomach being spewed onto my keyboard - a strong reaction to say the least.

I don't remember all the details of his coachhood, but I do have three major takeaways. As I remember it, his arrogance manifested itself in three key ways:

  1. Wasted or improperly used timeouts (clock management)
  2. Wasted or improperly used referee challenges
  3. Gradual, but methodical, eroding of the talent pool of one of the greatest teams in the NFL

One and two may not seem like that big a deal, but I remember them losing us close games back when we had the talent to make games close.

I've never really taken the time to study this period that started with a Super Bowl victory and ended 6 years later with Martz being told by management to stay the f#ck away from the team - ultimately being fired January 2, 2006. This ushered in the Linehan era we so fondly remember. So, I'm about to undertake the Durdy Jawb of reviewing the Martzian period to see if my innards are justified in expelling my dinner upon his mention. If you'd like to come along, get ready to get some dirt on ya. Here. Put this on.

We start where all Internet searches start - here in the hallowed halls of Wikipedia. Now not everything here may be true. But if it supports your supposition - it's good enough!

What were they thinking/saying??

Michael Martz (born May 13, 1951) started out as a high school football assistant coach, then bounced around several colleges as an assistant (offense oriented). He came to the LA Rams as a QB coach in 1992. When the Rams moved to the Lou in 1995, he moved too as the wide receivers coach - given credit for helping Isaac Bruce become BRUCE. In 1997 and 1998, he was at the Washington Redskins as QB coach. That's where he hooked up with Trent Green. He and Green came to St Louis in 1999 when Dick Vermeil gave him his first shot as offensive coordinator. Vermeil was very gracious after the Super Bowl win and gave Martz full credit for his part in the win and for bringing along Kurt Warner so fast after he was pressed into service.

So everything is great so far, right? Martz knows how to develop players, and he appears to be very creative in using them - a la "Mad Mike." (Or was it that he had so MUCH talent, he couldn't fail with Vermeil ultimately in charge of things, and he took it all for granted?) Who cares? Life was grand, if a little teary. Be nice if the story ended there, undurdy.

So in 1999, the Rams went 13-3 and won a Super Bowl. Not surprisingly, Martz was named head coach of the Rams in February 2000 after Dick Vermeil temporarily retired from the NFL (only to resurface later with the Chiefs). What I was hoping to find was an overview of Martz' record for the next six years as head coach. Wiki, did not disappoint:

Year Regular season Postseason
Won Lost Win % Finish Won Lost Win % Result
2000 10 6 62.5 2nd in NFC West 0 1 00.0
2001 14 2 87.5 1st in NFC West 2 1 66.7
2002 7 9 43.8 2nd in NFC West - - - -
2003 12 4 75.0 1st in NFC West 0 1 00.0
2004 8 8 50.0 2nd in NFC West 1 1 50.0
2005 2 3 40.0 2nd in NFC West - - - -
Total 53 32 62.4 3 4 42.9


Note that in 2005, Martz took a medical leave of absence from the Rams after five games due to a bacterial infection in his heart. His assistant, Joe Vitt, took over the rest of the season, and the team went 6 and 10 for all of 2005 - the opposite of Martz' first season as head coach. He was prevented from interacting with the team during his leave, although he desperately tried to anyway. Ultimately, he was fired immediately after the 2005 season.

So on the surface, that don't look too bad: 3 winning seasons, 2 NFC West Championships - never worse than second, 4 play-off seasons with 3 total wins and a Super Bowl appearance (that we should have won). However, this was not today's NFC West. In fact, the Cardinals and Seahawks replaced the Falcons, Saints and Panthers for the 2002 season. The NFC West was somewhat of a joke back then with teams bouncing up and down the division from year to year.

What is troubling is the fall-off in wins after the 2003 season. It's a fall-off that has continued for 11 years under 6 head and interim-head coaches. For what it's worth, it is a losing era that began with Mike Martz at the helm.

Challenge Challenged??

Getting back to my arrogance list above, I couldn't really find statistics on Martz' handling of time outs. However, time outs are interconnected to challenges since you have to burn one to get one. I was shocked to find that someone had kept track of every referee challenge Martz ever made as head coach along with the result. I am happy to provide the source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Feel free to go visit and read about each one, should that trip your trigger. I'll just provide the numbers for each year here.

Challenges Overturned Upheld Success
2000 8 4 4 50%
2001 12 4 8 33%
2002 7 3 4 43%
2003 10 4 6 40%
2004 6 1 5 17%
2005 5 1 4 20%
Total 48 17 31 35%


So Mike liked his challenges even though he was only 35% for his career. Many, you knew, were stupid right from the start, and some caused us to give up needed time outs or waste a precious challenge that was going to be needed later.

Here's the data on a few other coaches for their careers - from same source:

Coach Years Challenges Overturned Success Challenges/Yr
Pete Carroll 6 47 21 45% 7.8
Jim Harbaugh 4 35 12 34% 8.8
Bruce Arians 2 13 8 62% 6.5
Jeff Fisher 15 72 26 36% 4.8
Jeff Fisher (Rams) 3 8 3 38% 2.7


Team Personnel Bleed-Off

Martz seemed to make enemies fairly easily. While the Rams management was weak and incompetent, they were strong enough to develop an extreme desire to separate him from the team that last year before firing him. And he definitely had issues with certain players. I remember some that he ran off, but I was particularly interested in seeing who else left, and when, during his reign.

I had to get good and durdy for this part. I compared each historical Rams roster year by year from 1999 to 2005 using the Rams web site data. Anybody on one year but missing the next year made my list. Now not everybody who left, left because of the coach. And not everybody who left was a star or in the prime of their career - far from it. But some were. And it happened under Martz' administration, so he gets the blame (or credit). Fair enough?

So these are the guys who were on the team the previous year but not the listed year. Some of the more significant ones are in bold. Maybe you have a few others.

2000 - 22 Souls 2001 - 33 Souls
Carpenter, Ron DB Agnew, Ray DT
Clemons, Charlie LB Allen, Taje DB
Crosby, Clifton CB Barnes, Lionel DT
Flannery, John G Beck, Matt ILB
Frohbieter, Todd T Blevins, Darrius WR
Grasmanis, Paul DT Bush, Devin SS
Gruttadauria, Mike C Carter, Kevin DE
Harris, Derrick RB Collins, Todd F. OLB
Horan, Mike P Dukes, Chad RB
Jenkins, Billy SS English, Otis DT
Jones, Willie T Everitt, Steve C
Lee, Amp RB Farr, D'Marco DT
Levitt, Chad RB Germaine, Joe QB
Lewis, Chad TE Green, Trent QB
Miller, Fred T Hall, Jeff K
Morton, Mike LB Hobgood-Chittick, Nate DT
Rowe, Joe DB Horne, Tony WR
Thompson, David RB Hyder, Gaylon DT
Tuten, Rick P Jones, Mike A. The Tackle
OLB
Williams, Jay DE Kelsay, Chad LB
Willig, Matt T Kline, Andrew G
Young, Glenn DE Kyle, Jason LB
Lyght, Todd CB
Lyle, Keith FS
Miller, Keith LB
Pelshak, Troy LB
Smith, Fernando DE
Smith, Shevin DB
Stoyanovich, Pete K
Styles, Lorenzo OLB
Swanson, Pete T
Thomas, Chris WR
Williams, Roland TE

2002 - 25 Souls 2003 - 32 Souls
Ahanotu, Chidi DE Akbar, Hakim DB
Allen, Brian LB Ayi, Kole LB
Baker, John P Bellisari, Steve DB
Bowen, Matt DB Berger, Mitch P
Bowie, Larry RB Bly, Dre' CB
Brown, Darwin DB Brigance, O.J. LB
Brown, Jonathan DE Broyles, James G
Cason, Aveion RB Burrough, John DE
Coady, Rich DB Campion, Pete G
Cohen, Dustin LB Canidate, Trung RB
Fields, Mark OLB Conwell, Ernie TE
Fletcher, London MLB Cota, Chad DB
Gary, Willie DB Crouch, Eric WR
Griffin, Damon WR Davis, Don OLB
Hakim, Az-Zahir WR Edwards, Troy WR
Holcombe, Robert RB Garcia, Frank G
Jones, Cedric DE Gavadza, Jason TE
Jones, Rod T Hetherington, Chris RB
Justin, Paul QB Hodgins, James FB
Moran, Sean DE Irwin, Heath G
Noa, Kaulana T Martin, Jamie QB
Robinson, Jeff TE McCleon, Dexter CB
Shepherd, Jacoby DB Murphy, Yo WR
Spikes, Cameron G Niklos, J.R. RB
Tucker, Ryan T Nutten, Tom G
Proehl, Ricky WR
Scott, Travis G
Sorensen, Nick DB
Watson, Justin RB
Wilkins, Terrence WR
Wisne, Jerry G
Zgonina, Jeff DT

2004 - 27 Souls 2005 - 32 Souls
Alexander, Dan RB Alford, Darnell T
Angulo, Richard TE Brake, Mike TE
Bullard, Courtland LB Bronson, Zack DB
Covington, Scott QB Burley, Nick DE
Curley, Dan TE Chandler, Chris QB
Duncan, Jamie MLB Chandler, Jeff K
Eby, Andy C Coady, Rich (2) DB
Farmer, Kirk QB Dishman, Chris G
Gordon, Lamar RB Edwards, Antuan FS
Herring, Kim FS Fisher, Bryce DE
King, Andy T Flowers, Erik DE
Kitchings, Desmond WR Garrett, Kevin CB
Loverne, David G Goodspeed, Joey FB
Nead, Spencer TE Jensen, Erik TE
Reynolds, Joffrey RB Knight, Tom DB
Sehorn, Jason DB Landeta, Sean P
Shanle, Scott LB Lassiter, Kwamie DB
Smith, Justin LB Lehr, Matt C
St. Clair, John T Lucas, Justin DB
Staat, Jeremy DE McBride, Tod DB
Walton, Shane CB McGrorty, Dusty RB
Warner, Kurt QB Newson, Tony LB
Weary, Fred DB Polley, Tommy OLB
Whitley, James CB Shivers, Jason SAF
Wistrom, Grant DE Stemke, Kevin P
Wohlabaugh, Dave C Tercero, Scott G
Young, Brian DT Thomas, Robert MLB
Thompson, David DT
Trejo, Stephen RB
Turley, Kyle T
Williams, Aeneas FS
Williams, Grant T


Martz got rid of Rich Coady twice! Bummer.

That was the out-flow over Martz' 6 years. Here's the in-flow of First Round Draft Picks over the same period from Wiki. A few notables in bold.

Year Pick Player Pos. College Notes
2000 31 Trung Canidate RB Arizona
2001 12 Damione Lewis DT Miami (Florida) [a]
2001 20 Adam Archuleta DB Arizona State
2001 29 Ryan Pickett DT Ohio State [b]
2002 31
Robert Thomas LB UCLA
2003 12 Jimmy Kennedy DT Penn State
2004 24 Steven Jackson RB Oregon State
2005 19
Alex Barron OT Florida State


a The Rams traded Trent Green, and 2001 fourth round pick (150th overall) to Kansas City Chiefs for the Chiefs' 2001 first round pick (12th overall)
b The Rams traded Kevin Carter to Tennessee Titans for the Titans' 2001 first round pick (29th overall)

So, looks like we had more going out than coming in. Alex Barron - puuullllleze!

A discussion about Martz can't happen without mentioning the beating he allowed his quarterbacks to take. He nearly ended Kurt Warner's career and he DID end Marc Bulger's. He also de-emphasized the running game with Marshall Faulk.


Summary

In summary, I can see how he could be held in esteem for his offensive coordinator skills - helping to develop Isaac and Kurt didn't hurt. But I think his ego got the best of him as head coach, and the Rams are the worse for it. He never saw real success as an offensive coordinator at Detroit, San Fransisco or Chicago either. I think he likely made Lovey Smith's life miserable while they were in Chi-town together.

So in the future, my stomach may be able to handle Mike's mention without trying to launch itself out of my mouth. But I'll neva, eva agree that he deserves another stint with the Rams.

BTW, did ya see this? It's a history of all the NFL logos.

Cool NFL Logos

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