Martz's guys could be in trouble
Like Bill Parcells, Mike Martz is a coach who has "his guys." Rare players who understand his labyrinthian offensive system and appreciate his prickly tutoring.
Martz was only in Detroit two years, but his fingerprints are all over the offense. Primary among "Martz guys" are Jon Kitna, Shaun McDonald, and Mike Furrey, all of whom reached statistical highs under Martz that just won't happen with anyone else. Kitna will face increased competition for his job, while McDonald and Furrey will probably start putting up normal reserve numbers.
Detroit was dead last in rushing attempts for two years running, and that's going to change with Martz gone. They won't remain in the top-five in passing attempts.
While looking up these stats, I noticed that Detroit's offense actually improved in yards, points, and yards-per-attempt in both rushing and passing this season. Rod Marinelli's defense, not Martz's offense, has been the biggest reason why Detroit can't win.
Comments
Possible landing spot for Michael Turner? - interesting.
Posted by: scott l | January 3, 2008 08:57 AM
scott,
no.
the lions are too inept to make a good move like that. and if they did? turner would be a bust on this loser team.
Posted by: matt | January 3, 2008 09:02 AM
The Lions inept-ness begins and ends with their front office. As long as William Clay Ford is running this organization, they are doomed to be cellar dwellers with an occasional 8-8 season thrown in. Ultimately, he is responsible for their litany of bad coaching hires, because he is the one who has the final say. And let's not forget he's not only the guy who hired Millen, he's the guy who GAVE HIM AN EXTENSION FOR BEING THE WORST EXECUTIVE IN THE NFL!?!?!
Posted by: chris | January 3, 2008 09:30 AM
Hey Chris. Not only does he get an extension, but he's the second-highest paid GM in the league!
Posted by: Gregg | January 3, 2008 01:44 PM
only team in the history of the nfl that can win more than double their games from the year before and make no strides toward becoming a better team.
smoke and mirrors.
Posted by: matt | January 4, 2008 04:37 AM
2nd highest...nice!
smoke & mirrors is exactly right.
what a joke of an organization. the sad thing is, people around here think this team is "cursed". unless that curse is ownership, i couldn't disagree more. with all the success the other pro-sports teams in this city have had recently, it just goes to show how important good ownership really is. look at the tigers. they were close to setting the all-time loss record a few years back...their owner (who owns the redwings) finally decides to give them some attention, and wouldn't you know they were in the world series 2 years ago and have to be one of the favorites to win it all this year after a great off season.
Posted by: chris | January 4, 2008 09:09 AM