Who sez Martz failed in Detroit?

I read an old article on Martz. I dunno why.

He was such an odd one. Such a bundle of strengths and weaknesses.

Who the hell else could have gotten Mike Furrey to catch 98 passes. 98.

Faulk said Martz was not a failure in Detroit, btw.

w
v

=================
martz:https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/01/10/49ers-another-view-of-mike-martz-2/

Each agreed to give The Mercury News a scouting report on the offensive coordinator hired by the 49ers this week. The consensus? The big winner with Martz’s arrival is Gore – although not for the reasons you might think.

Faulk, for example, said Gore would flourish not by doing more but by doing less. He said Martz’s knack for relying on other playmakers means defenses will stop loading up on the 49ers’ lone threat.

“The one thing Mike does is find multiple ways to win games,” said Faulk, from Culver City, where he was preparing to go on air as an analyst for the NFL Network.

“There will be times when the defense will be focused on Frank, and that’s the time of the game when you find out whether your third or fourth options were paying attention in practice.

“Are those players prepared? Can they handle the pressure? With Mike, it’s in the details and he’ll find as many ways as he can to win.’

In other words, there will be no repeat of what happened when the 49ers played at Seattle Nov. 12. On fourth-and-1, everybody knew Gore would get the ball. The Seahawks pummeled him for no gain.

“Mike will move him around,” Warner said from his home in Arizona, where he now serves as quarterback for the Cardinals. “Mike will get the most of Frank because Gore is a tremendous player, and he finds creative ways to use his playmakers.”

Martz used Faulk all over the field, frequently lining him up as a split end. That’s how the runner wound up joining former 49ers star Roger Craig as the only backs to amass 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.

Gore has decent hands (114 catches over the past few seasons), although it’s tough to imagine him being as nimble a receiver as Faulk. No matter, Faulk said, because Martz will capitalize on Gore’s other skills.

“Frank is a much better inside runner than I ever was,” Faulk said. “That’s good for Mike because it gives him another weapon.”

Of course, Gore’s performance will be wasted again if the 49ers can’t get more out of their moribund passing game. Alex Smith and Shaun Hill are expected to compete for the starting job, a competition that Coach Mike Nolan has indicated will be left to Martz.

“Mike is the expert on quarterback play, let’s not kid ourselves,” Nolan said.

Regardless of who wins the job, Warner said both quarterbacks will essentially be starting from scratch. He recalled being shocked – and a tad bit offended – when Martz began working with him on basic fundamentals.

“He changed the way I’d been dropping back my whole life,” Warner said.

Most coaches, Warner said, put an emphasis on big strides and getting depth from the line of scrimmage. Martz worried more about rhythm. The coach wanted the ball out at the “top of the drop,” Warner said, and in practice Martz rarely concerned himself with the result of the play. He just wanted to make sure the footwork was correct.

“Every once in a while, you’d like to get credit for making a good throw,” Warner recalled with a laugh. “But it was all about timing.”

Martz had terrific receivers to work with in St. Louis, namely Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce.

The 49ers have – well, no one like that. Their top wideout, Arnaz Battle, ranked 62nd in the NFL for receptions.

But Warner and Faulk insisted that Martz could find untapped potential in some players. The previously obscure Mike Furrey, for example, caught 98 passes for 1,086 yards after Martz arrived in Detroit in 2006.

“I think what I liked most was his ability to instill confidence in the players,” Warner said. “He had confidence in us no matter what, that he was going to put the ball in our hands. His philosophy was, ‘You guys dictate the outcome of the game.’ When he put that confidence in us, we wanted to reward him.”

Confidence, incidentally, is not something Martz lacks in himself. His famously brash personality already has raised questions about whether he can coexist with Nolan, who isn’t exactly the poster boy for humility.

Martz’s ego is no myth. Warner and Faulk both stressed that the coach wants things done precisely his way, right down to the small stuff.

For all Martz’s bluster, though, Faulk said the coach won over the locker room by never criticizing a player in the media. Instead, Martz freely shouldered the blame for his own mistakes.

“He’s a very confident coach, but he’s accountable,” Faulk said. “He would stand before players and say, ‘I messed that up. I should have made a better call there.’ Most coaches just don’t do that.”

Martz apparently did his fair share of messing up in Detroit. He was fired as the offensive coordinator after two seasons.

He had resurrected the Lions’ passing game, taking a unit that ranked No. 26 in 2005 and delivering two top-10 finishes. But Martz’s running game was horrible both seasons, finishing 32nd in ’06 and 31st in ’07.

Why didn’t it work out for Martz in Detroit?

“Who said it didn’t work out,” Faulk protested. “It was very difficult for the offense because the defense wasn’t getting off the field. The Lions had the feeling that they had to score, that they had to push it, that they had to put the ball in the air.

“In San Francisco, it won’t be like that. He’ll have more time to be patient with the running game.’

Warner, too, predicted things would work for Martz and the 49ers. That’s a bittersweet reaction for someone who happens to play in the same division.

“He’ll get it going,” Warner said. “I just hope it takes him a few years.”