Former Rams coach Mike Martz has no warm or fuzzy feelings for the franchise’s current coach or possible franchise quarterback.
In an excerpt from Thomas George’s Blitzed: Why NFL Teams Gamble on Starting Rookie Quarterbacks, Martz unloads on both Jared Goff and Sean McVay.
“I don’t know if he can play or not, but I do know he couldn’t have gone to a worse place,” Martz said of Goff, via SBNation.com. “If you took him and switched him with Dak Prescott in Dallas, who knows what would have happened for Goff there? Goff at Cal came from an offense where they ran as many plays as they could -- fast. Jared in college did an amazing job of throwing a true ball off balance, under duress, making things happen. You knew the speed of the NFL would throw that kind of timing off. But he still throws a true ball. The Rams wanted to rewire him to what?
“I watched the Rams offense last season. It was awful football. There was nobody there on that staff that could teach him, develop him. You have a high-value guy like that and he went to the worst offensive place, the Rams.”
Now, the Rams have wunderkind Sean McVay, who helped get the most out of Kirk Cousins the past two years in Washington.
“What is he, a couple of months older than Jared?” Martz said. (McVay is nine years old than Goff.) “They hired a buddy for Jared. The NFL has nothing to do with being the friend or the buddy of the quarterback. You’ve got to coach them and work them hard with respect. But buddy? And this guy is a quarterback expert? An offensive expert? Wait a minute while I puke. Right, he’s going to be able to teach and handle and guide Jared through tough times because of all of his expertise and knowledge? Right. I’m not going to drink that Kool-Aid.”
Martz sounds like he’s been drinking something stronger. He comes off as stereotypical Glory Days grump who resents a younger coach doing a job that Martz surely believes he could do better right now. But McVay has been successful as a coordinator, the same path Martz took to become a marginally successful head coach.
Yes, Martz took the Rams to a Super Bowl after succeeding Dick Vermeil after Super Bowl XXXIV. However, the Rams arguably should have been to more -- and should have won at least one -- with Martz at the helm. Instead, Martz had a variety of conflicts within the organization, ultimately alienating future Hall of Famer Kurt Warner and, eventually, moving on from him. The Rams later moved on from Martz, who never received serious head-coaching consideration again.
It’s unclear why Martz has a problem with McVay. Per a league source, the two men have met briefly only once. Thus, this one possibly can be chalked up to good, old-fashioned old-man resentment of the guy who is getting it down without having to walk five miles in the snow. Uphill. Each way.