Would Marty be better off calling his Offense from the booth?
Marty Mornhinweg, Offensive Coordinator of the Eagles... This is pure conjecture, but some pundits say Marty would be far more effective at calling plays if he were up in the booth above the fray...
This is a tough question, only because there is no right answer...
Marty has long coached from the sideline rather than watch the action perched in a booth above, and that probably won’t change...
He likes to be down there with the action. Some people like to call it from up in the box, but he likes to be down there. He gets a chance to look the players in the eyes when they come off the field...and that seems to be the only advantage of being down there.
It’s become much more common for play-callers to be on the field. Only five offensive coordinators in the NFL called games from a booth last season.
The list includes Cincinnati’s Bob Bratkowski, Miami’s Dan Henning, Jacksonville’s Dirk Koetter, St. Louis’ Pat Shurmur and Atlanta’s Mike Mularkey. Only Mularkey’s Falcons finished in the top half of the league in scoring last year.
Bratkowski is no longer with the Bengals, nor is Henning with the Dolphins. Shurmur, the Browns’ new head coach, will continue calling offensive plays, but now likely from the sideline.
I honestly don't know if it would make a difference...what are we looking for here, a few extra point-scoring plays in the Red Zone? A couple of 3rd-and-2's converted to a first down?
I can tell you only from experience standing on an NFL sideline during training camp scrimmages--- it's hard for me to tell what's really going on when the ball is snapped. At eye level with these guys, I can barely follow the flow of any play. All I see is the convergence of fast-moving bodies of energy...the ball itself is invisible...the sound effects are those of Leo Pizzini's immortal description---a "metal shop"...
And then, the whistle blows, and the play is over...
It is then that I observe the function of the 3 mobile cranes holding video camera-men about 90 feet over the play at each end and a side of the field. Now I understand why they are up there--- they're the only guys on the field who can see and record what really happened.
Man, it's a fast game. And frankly, at 5-9, 180, Marty, the former QB from Montana, can't see over the action any better than I can...
Not that "seeing" always matters... Let's face it, the first 15 plays of any offensive game plan are pre-scripted...
But once you get beyond the "script", and you're invested in the developing drama of a game, especially into the later portions of the second half, wouldn't it seem logical for an OC to be perched well above the action? Plus, you could get your play calls into the huddle a whole lot faster, it would seem, with Marty in the booth...
It's probably a moot point with Mike Vick running the offense, anyway. Things develop very quickly with Vick in the pocket. Vick has, what, maybe two reads on every call, and one of them is "take off !"...?
Okay, that's a little harsh, and not playbook-accurate...
But I exaggerate to make a point.
I remember the first time I got the idea that Marty would be so much more effective in the booth than on the sideline. I was watching the Falcons destroy the Ravens on TV last season...
The thing that jumped out at me was the Falcons' offensive coordinator calling from the booth vs. the Ravens OC Cam Cameron on the field. A hypothesis appeared like a genie - could it be possible that Matt Ryan feels more comfortable with his offense simply because he feels more accountable to the offensive play calls coming from a place high above the field, compared to Joe Flacco who had Cameron on the sideline staring him down after every bad play?
Maybe I am reading too much into this possibility, but, hey, who can really blame me? We are all locked out!
And, I am very aware as Kenny (Kenemeka) would remind me, it's more about player execution than it is about the play that's called...
Still, I am concerned that Marty can't see the field from the sidelines... who cares if he needs to look in his players' eyes if all he'll see is disappointment because of his play-calling...He can sit in 543 Endzone and I bet he could call a better game from his seat there when he's above the field... you see the field and the tendencies of the opponent better...Would it kill Marty and Andy to have him go upstairs at some point in the pre-season and see what it's like?
That's all... that's my rant for the lockout.
As for Marty, I have great admiration for him and his career.
Mornhinweg was a four-year starter for Montana from 1980 to 1984. He set 15 passing records during his tenure as the Griz signal caller, guiding Montana to a Big Sky championship in 1982. At 5 feet 9 inches tall and 180 pounds he didn't have the prototype quarterback body, but what he lacked in height he made up for with an athletic, scrambling style of play that befuddled opponents.
Mornhinweg has led a life steeped in football. An Oklahoma native, he moved with his family a lot when he was growing up before settling in San Jose, Calif. One of his high school coaches was Mike Holmgren, who later coached the Green Bay Packers to a Super Bowl win. As a prep standout at Oak Grove High School, Mornhinweg guided his team to a championship and was named Northern California Player of the Year his senior year.
A lot of I-A college recruiters took a look at Mornhinweg, but interest waned when they saw his size.
Pretty soon he realized he was fifth or sixth on a lot of I-A lists, and interest was dropping off. But quite a few I-AA schools were calling.
"Then Mike Holmgren called me while I was working at a gas station," Mornhinweg said. "He said, 'I think Montana wants to offer you a full scholarship.' I said, 'You know what, I'm sick of all of it. I don't even know where that school is.' But then the head coach (Larry Donovan) called and said I should go where I'm wanted rather than where I want to go. I said, 'You know, that sounds pretty good. I'm coming.'"
"I have some special feelings for coach Donovan, because he was one of the few who would take a chance on a 5 foot 9 guy," he said. "And I found Missoula to be one of the best places to go to college."
When he played, the Griz faced several Big Sky teams that have since moved up to I-A, like Reno and Idaho, and he struggled through some losing seasons. He also split his four games against Montana State. "Heck, they won the national championship in 1984," he said, "but I hear (UM) has a pretty good win streak going now."
He won the Grizzlies' Carlson Most-Valuable Player Award in 1982 and 1984. He said his best memory as a Griz was winning the 1982 Big Sky championship.
Mornhinweg graduated from UM in December 1985, earning a degree in health and physical education with a coaching emphasis. By that time he knew he wanted to make football his life's work. His first coaching job was as an assistant at his former high school, helping Oak Grove win a conference title. Then in 1985 he was a wide receivers assistant coach at UM.
"When I was coaching in Montana, that really wasn't a coaching job," he said. "I got a check for like $22 every two weeks. I was just trying to get in at that point, and it's experience that counts. Every day I'd cross that little bridge by campus and get two hotdogs and a soda for 99 cents. That's about all I could afford for lunch."
Mornhinweg also hadn't given up the idea of playing in the pros, and in 1986 he landed the quarterback job for the Denver Dynamite Arena Football League. He'd always been fairly healthy at UM, but a few plays into his first game he suffered a career-ending injury.
"I thought I'd found a league built perfectly for my skills," he said. "Then I blew out my knee, my ACL. It was a bad one."
Mornhinweg tried to come back from the injury, but his knee started locking up when he worked it hard. Since that time he's had another five surgeries on the knee, and it isn't anywhere near normal to this day. The coach delights in horrifying people with the weird crackling noises made by the joint.
With his playing days ended, Mornhinweg concentrated on his coaching career. During 1986-94 he worked various college assistant coaching jobs at Texas El-Paso (UTEP), Northern Arizona University, Southeast Missouri State and Northern Arizona University. In 1994, when he was offensive coordinator for Northern Arizona, his Lumberjacks played in Washington-Grizzly Stadium. (They lost 24-34.) He earned a master's degree in physical education with a sports administration emphasis from UTEP.
Then he got a big break. Holmgren, his former high school coach, hired him as offensive assistant/quality control coach for the Green Bay Packers in 1995. After one season he was promoted to quarterbacks coach, tutoring Brett Favre as the team went on to win Super Bowl XXXI. With Mornhinweg and Favre working together, the star quarterback won his second MVP award. Both earned shiny new Super Bowl rings in 1997, and the former Griz had earned a reputation as an NFL quarterback guru.
Mornhinweg then served as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers from 1997-00, working with weapons such as quarterback Steve Young and the NFL's all-time-leading receiver, Jerry Rice. Then late in his 49er tenure, Mornhinweg helped groom Jeff Garcia, an import from the Canadian Football League, into one of the NFL's top passing threats.
With his NFL resume well established, Mornhinweg got a shot at coaching his own team on Jan. 25, 2001, when he was named head coach in Detroit. Terms of his five-year deal were not disclosed, but it can be assumed that he doesn't have to worry about buying 99-cent lunches anymore. He's the first UM graduate to become an NFL head coach. When he was hired, he was the second youngest coach in the league, behind Oakland's John Gruden.
His Lions went 2-14 during his grueling first year. The team was in danger of going winless until a Dec. 16 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, 27-24. The Lions then beat the Dallas Cowboys 15-10 during the final game of the season.
"In the long run, what happened to this point might be the very best thing," he said. "Because it makes you stronger and it makes you tougher in the end for the long run. I've always known this: With good teams, when you are playing well, all the balls bounce with you. And when you are not playing quite at the level you have to play at, it's all going against you. That's part of the game. So we don't complain, we don't take condolences, we don't say 'Why us?' or 'Why me?' We just keep going to clear that hurdle."
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Mouse. Mice. House. Hice ???
Goose. Geese. Moose. Meese ???
Sheeps in Jeeps,..Mices in hices,...gooses on mooses,...louses on mouses.
So, where does one get the forms to make changes the English languag?
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Just sayin...
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Ofcourse that was befour he started his biskets and gravy/powered sugar diet that turned him into the greatest FB on earff
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Ya, I know...just some wishful thinking considering I'm a UConn fan and live in CT...Just like I wish Jordan Todman or Lawrence Wilson was an Eagles... @Demappulls!
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at least you sat in it long enough to let us know you were thinking of us!! @tboned208
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Just read something earlier on Espn insider and again just now on rotoworld saying he doesn't want to go there. @southphillyben
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JB/Broz,..post this at the Dump. I'd ask kenny,..but he's gay,.and still can't figure out that avt thing,...thanks in advance!...
Barkley also suggested that the popular belief that almost all athletes are homophobic is unfounded. “First of all, every player has played with gay guys.” Barkley said. “It bothers me when I hear these reporters and jocks get on TV and say, ‘Oh, no guy can come out in a team sport. These guys would go crazy.’ First of all, quit telling me what I think. I’d rather have a gay guy who can play than a straight guy who can’t play. ...
Barkley also suggested that the popular belief that almost all athletes are homophobic is unfounded. “First of all, every player has played with gay guys.” Barkley said. “It bothers me when I hear these reporters and jocks get on TV and say, ‘Oh, no guy can come out in a team sport. These guys would go crazy.’ First of all, quit telling me what I think. I’d rather have a gay guy who can play than a straight guy who can’t play. ...
I need to check,...on some plates that I have spinning,...on poles,...ummmmm, elsewhere. Bye.
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JayBee is always approaching the Ideal Zone, like da horse wiff da carrot tied to its nose,....Bri is like one of dose cellestial rocks, a comet or hemorrhoid or sumptin', dat exceeded da escape velocity of da Earffs gravatationals,...and is speeding off uncontrolably away from the Cool Zone towards Uranus,...or perhaps even a planet.
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Italicon will protect me from JB's Bullying...yeah, that's rich... I guess the Clever Cleric will show me the way to a greater Truth... Meanwhile," I believe I'll hang wit' you guys a while..." (in my best Billy Ray Valentine voice as he accepts Cuban cigars and a flask of bourbon from the Duke Brothers in the limo ride scene in Trading Places)
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SPBen,.....I DID see Bri on the street wiff a sign that said "Will work for..." I couldn't see the last word, but it ended with ***ks. Maybe it said Books.
