Garrard to be Jags starting QB; Leftwich to be released or traded

Didn't Mike Martz coach a team to a 14-2 record and a Super Bowl they lost only on a last second FG--and didn't he win a lot more games than he lost during his head coaching career? And wasn't he the offensive coordinator of another Super Bowl champ and teams that had the best offense in football?

Given this proven record, its always amused me a bit the way everyone in the sportswriting business seems convinced he's just a hopelessly incompetent boob. I guess since we don't like him personally we don't have to worry about the actual facts getting in the way of mercilessly ripping the guy.

 

Didn't think much of Mr. Leftwich's abilities. Kind of like a jumbo version of our friend Jeff George: A brittle pocket passer with plenty of arm but no mobility and modest accuracy at best.

Sometimes a second-stringer like Garrard is a better fit because you play within in his limitations.

 

Martz isn't an incompetent boob, but neither is he the ultimate omnipotent genius of offensive football he and his pom-pom section incessantly claim he is.

The Lions threw for a ton of yards last year. They finished 22nd in scoring points, and tied for 31st in winning games. The function of an offense is a) to score points, and b) to win games.

 

Mike Martz should have a job as an offensive coordinator somewhere in the league for a number of years. He knows how to move the ball down the field.

Then again ... he had Marshall Faulk in his backfield, who should be in the Hall of Fame once he's eligible. Martz also had a speedy guy in Torry Holt, who knows how to play the position, and Isaac Bruce, an underrated sure-handed wideout and consummate pro. Kurt Warner learned the system and had the best multi-purpose back in the league to help pick up blitzers and catch more than his fair share of balls.

But Martz's arrogance, his indifference to turnovers (a big problem when he was at the controls in St. Louis) and lack of assessing the big picture should make anyone think twice before giving him another shot as head coach.

 

That and Martz's teams having the maddening propensity to call time out at the worst times and burn up all three time outs halfway through the first or third quarter. Even worse, I've seen Martz challenge the spot of a ball on a third and eight play early in the first quarter when it didn't matter a lick. IIRC, that was before the league instituted its rule where coaches who are right on two challenges get a third.

I think Scott Linehan had the right idea when he gave up playcalling duties so he could focus on the big picture.

 

Does anyone know what the problem with Leftwich is? There has to be something , right? Is there something in his personal life we do not know about?

I would love to see him in the Black and Gold.

Has anyone in this thread, which I glanced through, mentioned the possibility of the Redskins? He is from D.C. If Campbell goes down, your quarterback's last name is Collins. No matter which Collins it is, this is never a good sign.

 

There's never been a hint of problems with his personal life. No DUIs, no girlfriend beat-downs, etc. The coaching staff thought he wasn't quite as intense as he should be and there were the continuing mechanical problems: a windup in his throwing motion, bad footwork, etc. Of course he had to play for five years with the worst receiving corps in the NFL. I would love to see what he could do with guys who got open.

 

Chicago. As a Bears fan, I'd want as many experienced QBs on the roster behind Rex for the next time he implodes. Bears, please make that call! Sign him.

 

Wouldn't he have been a better acquisition than Kelly Holcomb in Minnesota?

 

Minnesota, KC, Miami--who knows how much Green has left?--Green Bay--he's got to be better than Rodgers--have to be in the running.

 

He'd be a better stopgap in Oakland than Culpepper.

 

You'd think so, wouldn't you? And yet, no one was willing to give up a low-round pick to get him...