Thread: Martz is History so Time to Start Throwing to the TE Again..............

I miss G-Reg.

I miss Greg's production (compared to ol' Rwill) but not his blocking or lack of ability to shed a crappy tackle. At least now we can find a TE and develop him.

Of course we've already discussed this in a couple of other threads but anytime there's a chance to demonstrate just how fucked up Martz's approach to the game is these days I want to take a shot at highlighting it.

Dickerson is correct when he says that Clark and Olsen were the best TE pass catching duo the Bears had had in decades. That put us in step with the rest of the league and gave Cutler some of is better targets since we lacked any great WR's. Then along comes Martz and sets up back a decade with an offensive system that hasn't produced any winners since his days as OC for the Rams.

Nowhere is the idiocy of this more glaringly apparent than his misuse of Vernon Davis when he was the OC of the 49'ers. He took one of the best receiving TE's to come out of college since Tony Gonzales and practically neutered him in his system with results similar to what he got with Spaeth and K. Davis this past year. Then as soon as Martz leaves and V. Davis gets back into the passing game his production nearly triples. So If you're a pass happy OC running a pass oriented offense how is it that you choose to ignore one of your best pass receivers?

Dickerson is spot on with his analysis when he describes Martz as selfish and stubborn to which I'll also add arrogant and ignorant. How does a guy refuse to throw to his TE's when they're catching passes and scoring TD's? As I've pointed before at one point early this year K. Davis had caught 3 TD's in his last 5 passes. Pretty good conversion rate right? So tell me why he gets only another handful of passes for the rest of the season?

I think sometimes Lovie hypes guys beyond their ability to contribute but in Kellen Davis' case I think he may be on to something. I remember him catching a TD pass last year and I thought it was in that final regular season game against the Packers. The catch he made and the athleticism he showed getting into the end zone was impressive. He showed a lot more ability to stretch out and get YAC than Olsen ever showed. I don't think he's much slower than Olsen either and he's certainly a better blocker.

The bottom line is that if Martz had used his TE's more in the redzone and on first and goal drives we would have had to settle for FG's far less than we did. Rodgers and Finley killed us an others down there and so have others but we ignore the advantage that gives us with 6'7" targets to throw to. When he does finally call a play to the TE it's a crazy ass kind of screen that almost get's run back to a score. Nobody believed it was a good call yet he defended it by saying that it always worked for him and them threw his QB under the bus by criticizing the execution.

I think under Tice we'll see the reemergence of our TE's as pass catchers. Olsen is gone but he can be replaced is not by Davis then by someone else. I disagree that a TE has to be a top 10 pick to be a top performer. Davis was an exceptional player coming out of college but Finley and Graham were 3rd round picks, Hernandez a 4th and Gronkowski a 2nd which proves a guy doesn't need to be a 1st round pick to become a good TE.

I don't see Spaeth as ever being much of a receiver but Davis has a good chance if they throw to him. There's also Andre Smith and Kyle Adams on the roster already and neither has been tried in that manner. It wouldn't bother me to see us draft another but it would be nice to find out if we don't have some talent already on the roster.

Originally Posted by motownbear

I dont miss any former bear on offense from the whacked out JA era. But Im envious of other teams when I see developed talent like Gates, Hernandez, Gronk, Gresham, Graham, etc...... Why do we have to be such a fucked up offense year in and year out

Well let's see what happens this year with an OC who'll build around what he has rather than what he wishes he had. I see some potential in Davis but if he doesn't step up and realize that potential this year and no one else on the roster looks any better we need to go shopping for another TE.

None of those guys were first round picks but they all play for teams who realize how important a good receiving TE is to an offense. Look at the stats Clark and Olsen turned in before Martz arrived. Then Martz trys to turn Olsen into a blocking back half the time and Clark sits inactive for most of the year in 2011. This year we trade Olsen before the season begins.

Mike Martz added nothing to the Bears passing game. For the most part he subtracted from it.

Originally Posted by Jimmors

After watching the playoffs, i kept seeing former Bears: Danieal Manning in Houston, Brendan Ayanbadejo (ST STUD for us) in Baltimore, Mark Anderson in NE....sad to see our former players enjoying the playoffs while our team sits at home.

I think letting Manning go before we knew what we had in Major Wright was a big mistake but he would have been an expensive signing. Now let's just hope they don't get stupid with Graham and lose another great ST guy and a damn good backup defensive back. Lovie really needs to give him his shot on the defense this year if not at CB then I'd let him have a go at SS.