Mike Martz has interviewed for the OC job, and according to the Chicago Tribune is the favorite.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,6315415.story
Wherever Martz has gone, fantasy values have changed. Dramatically.
My expectation:
Cutler
WR1 (Hester?)
WR2 (Aromashodu?)
WR3 (Bennett?)
WR4 (Knox?) slight
Forte
Olsen
If Martz comes to town the WR1 through WR4 spots could be shuffled. Some guys "get" his system and thrive, some don't and languish. One thing is sure -- Cutler's value takes a big jump while Forte and especially Olsen suffer. Guaranteed.
he did have vernon davis for a year and underutilized him, but it is not like he had many TEs as good as olsen to work with in his HC stint with STL and as OC with DET... it might be early to shovel the dirt on him at this stage...that said, i acknowledge, CP, your position is the safe call and more likely to be right...
agreed martz is guilty until proven innocent when it comes to TE use...
the historical record isn't pretty.
* martz's offense is said to be extremely complex... i don't think cutler is unintelligent, but is he known as a hard worker? if not, could be a situation where cutler is better in future years than necessarily in 2010... and as has been pointed out a few times already, the state of the OL could present some inherent constraints that probably no OC could completely surmount.
while martz may be the favorite (almost by default) according to this report, i don't think he is a slam dunk... former rams player personnel exec charley armey was pretty blunt and candid in his assessment of martz... but lovie worked with him, so he should know what to expect. former boss in DET and current CHI DL coach marinelli also seemed to express some not too veiled disappointment...
if he does get the job, looking forward to seeing what he could do for hester...
** as to martz's "system", i think it requires precise timing, which may not be identical to precise route running (obviously related). it is very complicated in that you have to memorize a prodigious amount of variation of plays in different player groupings, alignments, shifts and formations... so defense can't get a handle on when to dial up a blitz based on tendencies...
if there is a salient difference that makes it identifiably his, a few things come to mind... somewhat slow developing, longer in patterns based on rhythm & timing, where the ball is thrown before the WR has cut (of course a lot of NFL passing attacks are based on timing, but you didn't see as much with the rams where the QB just stands back & waits for WR to come open)... also, he doesn't emphasize QB protection to the point of recklessness. he was not the first (or last) passing game architect to throw to the RB a lot, but faulk was a special talent, the greatest receiving RB of his generation, and he recognized it. i recall from fantasy index breakdowns (moreso than infrequent broadcasts
) that while his overall pass/run ratio has traditionally been skewed wildly to the air vs. the ground, he actually runs a lot in the red zone.
forte could catch a lot of passes in a martz offense (led all RBs as rookie in '08?), and could get a lot of goal line opportunities, so such a change may not necessarily be bad for him. and of course if martz did get things turned around (maybe with OL reinforcements), the bears may be around the goal line more often.
just imagine what Martz' system is going to do to this guys numbers!
waiting to happen - for the Bears, for Cutler, and for Lovie Smith.
