As New England inches even closer to perfection, there lies a faint memory of Mike Martz and his powerful St. Louis Rams, a team heavily favored over the underdog Patriots six years ago in Super Bowl XXXVI.
After the Adam Vinatieri field goals and Tom Brady heroics, poor Mike Martz fell into relative obscurity and the New England Patriots kept on winning Super Bowls.
Now in the present day, here we have Martz on Mike Nolan's staff. Martz has a proven track record as an offensive guru but with a great mind comes a great ego. However, at this point, offensive stability is the main concern.
Since Alex Smith was drafted, he has had a different offensive coordinator each year that he has been in the NFL. Hopefully this time he will have Martz to learn from for a longer period of time.
Smith has now learned the West Coast Offense, the Norv Turner version of the Coryell offense, the confused "I'm lost" Jim Hostler offense, and now he will learn Martz's variation of the Coryell offense. While we're at it, we should add in the Run and Shoot and Triple Option just for fun.
I wouldn't exactly call that a recipe for offensive success, but alas we may finally have a savior.
Martz brings a General George S. Patton like swagger and arrogance to the offense that we haven't seen in a very long time. However, our personnel on offense is still a big question mark.
Martz had the likes of Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Roy Williams, and Calvin Johnson to utilize. He does have Vernon Davis and Frank Gore to work with, but the receivers' situation needs to be addressed in the off season if we are ever to see the Greatest Show on Candlestick Slop.
Ah, what a sight that would be seeing our 49ers light up the scoreboard again.
Before we get ahead of ourselves now, the offensive line is still a gigantic concern.
Larry Allen's retirement isn't going to make things any better for this inconsistent unit. Jonas Jennings always seems to be hurt and David Baas has been slow to develop. Joe Staley seems like he could be a fixture on the line for years to come, but still has a ways to go.
The offensive line looked good on paper at the beginning of the season but vastly underperformed under George Worhop. If the Martz offense is to click, the line will need to provide enough time to get the ball downfield.
Although concerns are warranted about our personnel and Martz's ego, Nolan is apparently giving Martz full control over the offense. This will allow Martz to work his genius how he see fits without being micromanaged, although Nolan isn't a likely candidate to micromanage his offensive coordinator. Nolan has proven that he does not have much aptitude for offense and should let Martz do his thing.
George Seifert, another former defensive coordinator, let Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan do their thing with the offense and it won him two Super Bowls. Although our current talent level isn't even close to the 1989 and 1994 teams, an analogy can be drawn from the past.
Once Martz starts to put the pieces together to his new masterpiece, expect results. At this point, all we can do is speculate but we can rest assure that the offense is now in good hands.
Welcome to the Mike Martz era.
