(Link at the bottom...but just wanted to highlight the last two answers, which really get to the heart of Martz's approach the past few weeks...this type of leadership and insight is exactly what the 49ers need from someone in the coaching staff.)
Q: Do you have two different personalities. You're very charming, polite, civilized in interviews but today I heard you say on the field, 'Get the (freaking) ball. Don't let it drop. (Martz yelled this at wide receiver Robert Ortiz.) I've heard in meetings with quarterbacks you can be quite direct and blunt. Are there two of you?
A: I'm in camp and this only happens in camp, by the way. I don't do this during the season - then you teach and you coach. But this is football at its highest level. You find a young man off the street that thinks he can make this team. You have got to put pressure on these guys as much as you can and make them deal with it. We don't have time, we only have three weeks. So if this guy has talent, and they all have talent, what you don't know is if they've got enough heart, strength in their character (he makes a fist) to deal with the stress of playing this game at a high level. Otherwise you have a guy who did really well in practice and you get in a game and he kind of disappears on you. I put as much pressure on them as I can and some of them you see them and they're resilient to it and you don't have to mess with them. (Rookie wide receiver) Josh Morgan's an example. I never mess with Josh. But some of these kids they come in here, the learning curve is very short here. We don't have a lot of time and they don't understand it. To get that full knowledge of what they can do - quarterbacks too - you've got to produce fire and then when camp is over I become the teacher I was raised to be. That's something I learned by necessity. You've got to find ways to put the pressure on them. It's not real comfortable for me to do but that's what you have to do.
Q: I think part of what's going on with quarterbacks is putting them under duress. I wish Alex Smith would tell someone to go (screw) himself, tell you to go (screw) yourself. It would be good for him.
A: I'm not sure that reaction is the right reaction. That part is not, but the toughness part, the assertiveness in the situation is what I'm looking for, what I'm always looking for. I'm not specifically talking about Alex. I'm talking about all the players. To get angry - emotion's not what I'm looking for. It's attitude. Emotion, go (screw) yourself, that's not important. I want them to be resilient. If they fail at something, they're resilient enough to bounce back and go out and do it again. Sometimes, it's a tough road. They have to fight their way through it. It's not an easy lesson when things have been going good your whole career - all these guys have been very successful - and the NFL is an elite league of the world. If you want to be the elite of the elite, then there's a certain mental toughness and attitude, if you will, that's required. Without that you can never achieve that level of excellence that you aspire to. It's not that emotion I'm looking for, it's the toughness. Joe Montana's a good example. Joe was a tough guy, assertive. He was very competitive. He wasn't intimidated by anything. He probably thought there wasn't anything he couldn't deal with. And that's what you're looking for. A lot of things can bombard a guy and make him second guess himself. What we're trying to do is make them think I can do this, get out of my way.
- seven-eleven 2008-08-13 18:33:55 (278 views)