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Mining the Gold Rush
How much better will Mike Martz make the 49ers offense?
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I had initially thought about doing a post about the different elements of the 49ers offense for Mike Martz, but I came across this article and it made me rethink about the whole 49ers offense in general.
First off, this article talks about how the 49ers offense may not be talented enough to handle a Martz offensive scheme. The team’s most talented player, Frank Gore, may be the one that might be underutilized. Knowing Martz and his pass-happy offense, there might be a little worry that they might not use him enough. Take a look at this stat: Martz’s offenses have finished 30th (twice), 25th, 22nd, 32nd and 31st in rushing in the past six seasons. That’s pretty terrible.
Gore is a guy that needs to run as much as possible. Not allowing him to run and to get pass-happy will actually doom the 49ers. Remember, the guys who will be throwing the ball are either Alex Smith or Shaun Hill. I don’t think either of them have the ability to get those passes away like that of Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger.
I don’t know if Gore will get the looks at running back as he should get. In 2006, Gore had his breakout season mainly because of a great offensive line (thanks Larry Allen) and also because Norv Turner allowed the team to be diverse in passing and running. Alex Smith threw 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions that year. But it was Smith’s first real time as a stater. That season actually allowed the quarterback to rely on a running game to open up the passing lanes.
Mike Martz will not see that happen. Unless Martz changes his style, the team will not rely on the running game to open up passing lanes.
Here lies the problem: The 49ers have no passing game. A lot can be attributed to Jim Hostler. A lot can be attributed to Smith’s injury. A lot can be said that the receivers did not live up to their best potential. I think it could be a combination of all of them.
But let’s take a look at the receivers for the Niners this season. Their top three are Bryant Johnson, Isaac Bruce and Arnaz Battle. Johnson played under the shadows of two great receivers in Phoenix, and this is his chance to live up to the hype that he never got a chance to show. Bruce is nearing retirement soon, but still wants to play. Battle has been the most consistent 49er all these years and let’s hope he remains that way.
We have a potential player in Johnson. An old vet in Bruce. And a receiver in Battle that was the #1 receiver last year. Doesn’t look too bad. But it isn’t that great. None of these receivers, just yet, can be that big deep homerun threat. If we throw in Ashley Lelie and possibly Jason Hill or Josh Morgan, we really don’t know what we’re getting.
The tight end position is the one that needs attention. I had mentioned earlier about the tight end position being reworked by Martz. But Davis is still so raw after two injury-plagued seasons. Can he even handle all this? Maybe. I hope so.
But one thing we can expect is that there will be a lot of risk-taking moves. One thing Martz always love to do is gamble. So see a lot of fourth down attempts. We’ll see possible reverses, flea flickers or whatever else makes the offense fun to watch. There’s a lot of great potential out there. But like I had talked about last year about the team, it’s all potential. A lot has to fall into place.
The offense Martz brings is a championship winning offense. It can be successful. But it won’t work unless there is the right personnel to execute it. The Rams had the right players for it. The Lions didn’t have such luck. Where do the Niners stand? They might not have the best players to execute the offense, but this gives a lot of players to establish themselves as successful football players.
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on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Mike Martz, 49ers, Offense, General.
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26 Responses to “How much better will Mike Martz make the 49ers offense?”
July 4th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
It didn’t work in Detriot? That team was pretty good last year and put up more that 30 points multiple times.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
It didn’t work because they didn’t run last year. And even though they were passing well, it got too predictable. The 6-2 start was nice, but it just didn’t equal enough to a successful team. Once again, the receievers are great there, but I don’t know if Kitna was under the system long enough to really have given it a chance to shine.
July 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
And since that 6-2 start, they didn’t score 30 in its remaining games. So somewhere along the way, they just couldn’t handle such a complex offense. But then again, the defense plays a role in that too. Could the Lions have done it for a full season if Martz stayed? Maybe so. But they were terribly inconsistent, that I think that Martz wasn’t the right type of offense for the team.
July 5th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Mike Martz is going to bring out the talent in our offense. Frank Gore might not have as many rushing yards as he had in the past but I think he will rack up on receiving yards this year. Last year Gore lead our team with 53 receptions. He was our best WR.
I feel we upgraded at WR. Darrell Jackson was a huge disappointment last year for us. Isaac Bruce will help our young WR’s. Bryant Johnson is going to give us a big body WR we haven’t had since T.O. left. Arnez Battle has always been dependable for us. Vernon Davis was second in reception for us. Even with the injuries, he’s still one of our best assets on offence.
We all know Alex Smith is going to be our starter so the question is can he finally lead our team. Last year I knew we were in trouble when I found out Smith wasn’t a captain on offense. There has to be something really wrong when our own QB isn’t our captain. But I feel Alex Smith will take charge this year (if he doesn’t then he really is a bust). Remember we drafted him over Aaron Rogers because he is very smart and he put up crazy numbers at Utah, when he was at Utah, under Urban Meyers system, it allowed Smith to put up some serious numbers. The system Meyer ran was a spread offense much like what Martz will be running this season.
I feel our offense will come together toward the end of the season. So we might be in for a though year.
July 5th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Well, as you may or may not know, I was not a fan of Smith in college. I was more of a Rodgers fan because I think Rodgers had a better grasp of the intangibles of a quarterback. Being that said, neither quarterback has proven anything so I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
I think the thing about the Martz offense is that it can be successful with the right personnel. I want to believe that the Niners have the right players for it. Let’s just see how these guys do in summer camp and preseason. The team can finish .500 or better. But they have to be precise on everything.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
The fact that Martz has said he’s going with more 2 tight end sets tells me he plans on giving the ball to Gore alot. Think, maybe Thurman Thomas or Roger Craig 1000-1000’s years.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Let’s hope so
July 7th, 2008 at 6:49 am
All I know is we better win some games this year or else we will be getting a new head coach. Maybe Mike Singletary?
July 7th, 2008 at 9:53 am
^ true. The Niners need to win some of those games. And Singletary has been a rumor for replacement if it does go down like that.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Looking at the schedule…..we have a hard year ahead of us.
July 7th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Exactly. I think more pressure is on the defense to give the offense any chance of excelling. Coming from behind on offense is so hard
July 8th, 2008 at 8:43 am
I think our defense will have to bail our offense out on some games this year. Even score some points or create some turnovers to help the offense.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Our defense on paper should be able to maintain most offenses. I think one of the things that the offense needs early in the season is good field position. If the defense can get that, confidence can definitely be built on offense.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I feel that our D can hang with the better offenses in the NFL. I just hope our offense can do more then what we did last year.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
They can definitely hang, but I think that the team needs to be positive. Most of the time, the offense couldn’t score which made it tough for the defense to do much.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
If they fail(Nolan)to win and the offense is alright, Mike Martz becomes head coach, not Singletary, at least thats the way i see it. If both fail, then there’s a case for Mike S. And that would probly end Alex Smith’s stay in Sf.., worst case. But hey, why “trip”, the season has’nt even started:), there’s plenty of things to look forward to, like a new offense for starters…and instead of D.Jackasson, the niners have Issac Bruce, sweeeet.
July 9th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Well, I wouldn’t give Martz the nod for head coaching job (even though he has experience). But you’re right… too soon to even worry
July 9th, 2008 at 7:48 am
I really think we might surprise some people this year. When we ended our 2006 season our record was 7-9 and looking very promising for 2007. Some experts had us to win the NFC West and making the playoff but we all know the 2007 season didn’t meet our expectation. Now the word on the street is the Niners might be lucky if they win half their games. Some experts think we will be at the bottom of the NFC West. With that being said, I really feel we are going to be better then we were in 2006. No one is giving us a chance this year and that’s when we will shine. But if we do worse then we did last year then rebuilding the team will have to start all over.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:25 am
One reason the people aren’t giving the team a lot of love was exactly because of last year. The expectation was so high for the Niners. But they failed. They don’t want to put all their eggs in the Niners basket this year. And you know what? I agree. The team has still yet to prove anything. And with offensive coaching changes again, we all can just wonder if the team has enough to win. Like I mentioned in this article, we don’t even know if the right tools are available for Martz.
July 10th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
One thing to look forward to is the team did start 2-0 last year…and mostly competitive in their losses. Hard to compete with 3rd and 4th string QB’s too. So for all those haters out there, they’ve got there QB’s back and there a lil’ more stacked and poised to make a comeback…damn, i’m a poet and didnt even know itLOL i know , it was wack..lol
July 10th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Competitive was key. They lost that edge after going 2-2. That losing streak, with each loss, devastated the team
July 11th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I know we didn’t have our starting QB and a couple of key injuries but some of those games we got blown out.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Well, that’s because our offense were going three-and-out. So it doesn’t help when the opposing offense is always on the field.
July 12th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Your right about our offense going 3 and out almost every series. I really think we have a real good defense. A team could have the best defense in the league but if they are on the field 90% of the time it is very hard for them. And our D was on the field most of the time.
July 12th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
That’s what it seemed like.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
ALL MY 49ER FANS, I REALLY DO HAVE A GREAT FEELING ABOUT THIS NEXT UPCOMING YEAR, I THINK DAVIS AT THE TIGHT END POSITION WILL MAKE A BIG IMPACT THIS YEAR, THIS MIGHT BE HIS BRAKE OUT YEAR, WITH JOHNSON SET TO PROVE HIS W.R ABILITYS AND A VET LIKE BRUCE, WERE GOING TO KICK SOME A$$. MARTZ HAS TO BE STUPID NOT TO USE GORE AND GET A GOOD RUNING GAME GOING,WITH OUR PASSING GAME FLYING AND RUNNING GAME EATING AWAY TIME AND YARDS,WE ARE GOING TO SHUT A FEW HOUSES DOWN.ALL MY NINNER FANS ,WITH MIKE NOLAN FOCUSING ON THE D’ AND MIKE MARTZS ON THE O’ …GET YOR POPCORN AND DRINKS READY, BECAUSE THE MIKE AND MIKE SHOW IS ABOUT TO TAKE OVER THE AIR WAVES…”
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