Former Rams coach, Lions offensive coordinator, and 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz is out of the NFL. And he claims that his current employment status results directly from the efforts of folks who like it that way.
“People are determined to keep me out of the league,” Martz told Tom Curran of NBCSports.com. “It’s been going on for three years and at this point, I can’t fight it. I just can’t fight it. Three years of people putting it out there that I’m a high-maintenance lunatic.
“I keep asking, ‘Who says these things?’ No one will tell you. But I just put two and two together. But when you have a tag and the same damaging things get said two or three times it becomes very hard to shake that tag.”
Martz thinks that the information is coming from the Rams.
“Most of the perception came from St. Louis,” Martz said. “There was so much bitterness and anger and it all stems from my relationship Jay [Zygmunt]. Really, it emanated from a couple people and I’ve now been dogged with it throughout my career.”
Then again, Martz hasn’t done anything since leaving St. Louis to change the perception. Last month, former Lions coach Rod Marinelli seemed to take aim at Martz.
And Martz’s public griping about the closing moments of a Monday night loss to the 49ers last season did nothing to change opinions of him. (Martz was later fined $20,000 for his remarks.)
As the tired saying goes, perception is reality.
In this case, Martz needs to consider the possibility that the perception really is the reality.