The coaches have a lot of confidence in Hanie and if you watch his highlights (brief as they are) I think you see a lot of similarity in how he and Cutler run the offense. We may have forgotten just how mobile and tough Hanie can be but the highlights show that he can move and throw on the move.
Both Lovie and Martz talk about McCown and why he fits. Lovie says they have been interested in him for quite some time long before this. Nice updates on the QB situation.
For some unknown reason the Martz interview keeps coming up even though I copied the Hanie highlight video link. Once you get to that spot you can select that video from the menu though. Damn Martz, his ego is so huge it even prevades selecting anyone else's interview or highlights but his own.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Since the moment he arrived in Chicago prior to the 2010 season, Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz seemed reluctant to embrace reserve quarterback Caleb Hanie. [+] EnlargeAP Photo/Nam Y. HuhMike Martz has apparently changed his mind about Caleb Hanie's ability.
That all changed when Jay Cutler suffered a broken right thumb in the fourth quarter against San Diego this past Sunday.
With Hanie poised to make his first career start Sunday versus Oakland, Martz showered the young quarterback with praise following Wednesday's workout at Halas Hall. Martz said his critical treatment of Hanie was all part of the process to prepare the quarterback for this very moment. (Tough love eh Mike? Glad I'm not one of your kid's)
"We know Caleb is a good player, and in my mind he's a starter in this league, he's just waiting for his opportunity," Martz said. "Otherwise you don't do what you do like we handle Caleb. Yeah, stress him and press him a little bit. Get him out of his comfort zone, and have him deal with the emotional ups and downs that have to do with being a starter in this league. Kind of callous him up a little bit. It really solidifies inside of him that he's good enough and he can do this, he can handle things.' (Why not just shut him up in your basement and feed him nothing but fish heads and rice? Anybody else but me think that maybe Martz has a little bit of a sadistic side to him. Wonder if he dresses in leathers of the field and attend S/M get togethers?)
"The biggest issue is, for good quarterbacks, when things are going bad, that's when you have to be at your best. And that's where he is right now. Where I point to is the NFC Championship Game, he throws an interception coming back, and then he goes right out and he goes and gets a touchdown. That was a huge statement for me.That was the resilience and toughness we were looking for in him." (That kinda proved it to ya' didn't it? So wtf was up with all the mind games in camp?)
Several backup quarterbacks have seen their careers take off under Martz, especially during his years as offensive coordinator and head coach in St. Louis, where both Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger were holding clipboards before they reached stardom. Martz put Hanie in that category, even though he demoted the young quarterback to third string last year behind veteran Todd Collins, and for a brief moment this past training camp, gave rookie Nate Enderle the second-team reps in practice.(That's the genius of the Martz system is it? We demote before we promote just to show 'em whose boss)
"I consider him at the highest level," Martz said. "He prepares as well as any quarterback I've had. He's got his own cut for this game, for crying out loud, that he's already made, and he has that wired in pretty good. And that's one of the things that makes me comfortable, and confident in him, is his preparation.' (Just don't take all the credit for that Mike. He had a habit of being overprepared all the way back to his frosh year in college. His mama saw to that)
"You have to remember that when he came out of college, where he was at Colorado State, their offense was a little bit limited in some respects," Martz said. "And then while he was here, he didn't do a whole lot. Over the last year and a half, the transition has been remarkable for him. We've been cleared in everything, and he's just slowly gotten better and better and better. He's a very confident, very accurate guy. He's smart. I have a lot of faith in Caleb.'
"I trust him completely. I don't have any concerns about Caleb, I really don't." (Really gets to know a lot about his guys on a personal level huh? He's also full of shit. CSU ran a full blown pro set offense under Sonny Lubick when he played there.)
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
I think Mike Martz is off this planet in some other world or dimension somewhere. Do you think he ever listens to tapes of what he says? Here he is pumping up Hanie and he can't even remember what program he came out of and how they ran their offense?
I think he's about 80% eccentric and 20% genius but he's so unconventional that everyone thinks he a guru. When Lovie says something about a player I believe what he says because I know he believes what he says. In Martz's case what I hear are sound bites. It's more like what he should say or what he's supposed to say than how he really feels.
To me he's just out there in the ozone someplace.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
