With coaching styles that don’t fit their personnel, Mike Martz
and Lane Kiffin would be more successful if they traded places
Like a pigskin in my brain, I’ve been tossing around this idea for the last week or so, and the preseason opener between the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders only confirmed my theory.
Offensively, both teams are going to be downright offensive this season. We all knew this would be the case so I’m not taking credit for stating the obvious. A final score of 18-6 on Friday, with the only touchdowns being scored by a Raiders punt return and 5-yard run by Michael Bush, is just the first example in a season’s worth of stinkdom to come.
What I will try to take credit for, though, is proposing a trade that would benefit both teams and doesn’t involve a single player.
Bwah, Bwah, Bwah, Bwah!
Yes, it’s my belief that both Bay Area clubs could win roughly three more games this season if the 49ers were to send offensive coordinator Mike Martz to the Raiders, and in return the Niners would take back Lane Kiffin. I know, I know, this will never happen for several reasons, the most obvious being that the season starts in three weeks.
But by simply putting it out there, you’ll be able to see how both teams are headed down the wrong path.
Personnel dictates style, and right now neither team has the right people for the way it would like to play.
The Niners have an offensive coordinator dubbed the “Mad Scientist,” who is the most demanding in the league when it comes to the quarterback position. Unfortunately, he has three quarterbacks competing for the starting job.
The old saying goes, ‘If you’ve got two quarterbacks, you’ve got no quarterbacks.’ Well, when you’ve got three quarterbacks, you’ve got a whole other beast on your hands. It’s an ugly animal that rhymes with buck and begins with cluster.
Worst of all, each of the three – Alex Smith, Shaun Hill and JT O’Sullivan – can’t fire the ball more than 20 yards with accuracy and velocity. All three are suited for a West Coast offense, which dinks and dunks its way down the field with an occasional deep ball.
Here’s where Lane Kiffin enters the equation.
As a head coach, Kiffin obviously wouldn’t appreciate being demoted to an offensive coordinator role. But with the stench of Al Davis’ halitosis consistently bearing down the back of his neck, Kiffin isn’t exactly calling the shots in Oakland anyway. The only reason he still has a job is because he refused to sign a resignation letter Davis drafted for him after last season.
Davis wants to win now, and he wants to do it his way. It’s why the owner drafted JaMarcus Russell last year and Darren McFadden this spring. Neither is a prototypical fit in the West Coast offense that Kiffin operates, but they’re both gamebreakers. McFadden is a touchdown waiting to happen in open space, and Russell has the strongest arm the NFL has seen since John Elway.
Wouldn’t it seem ideal then to have a 6-foot-6, 260-pound quarterback, who can shed linemen off his legs like children, stand in the pocket and fire balls down the field rather than running screens and slants and swing passes? Martz would provide that offense. Martz would also create thousands of plays – he installs a new playbook each game – for McFadden to use his athletic ability ala Marshall Faulk.
I can hear the 49er faithful crying out, ‘But Martz is going to do just that with Frank Gore!’ Wrong.
Martz has never had an interest in running the ball more than 20 times a game. It’s why the Rams lost Super Bowl XXXVI to the Patriots and why the Detroit Lions – the Lions people! – fired him after two seasons. Martz just gets bored seeing a back run into the line for four quarters.
Gore will need over 20 carries a game to be effective, and unless the Niners’ coordinator truly realizes what he has at quarterback, or doesn’t have for that matter, it’s unlikely Gore would receive those touches via handoff.
Of course, this will never happen because it makes too much sense.
Niners coach Mike Nolan went after Martz because he is a sexy hire and cools the head coach’s hot seat for at least a year. It also gives Nolan the chance to dump Smith since the quarterback neither gets along with the coach, nor fits Martz’ system.
Kiffin isn’t likely to last another year with the Raiders unless they make the playoffs. (Please stifle your laughter.)
Coaches occasionally get traded for draft picks when their time with a team has expired, but their contract hasn’t. Trading them straight-up for one another is just the next step.
In this case it’s the second step. The first would require both teams to understand what they’re doing wrong.
