49ers Blog and Q&A

Mike Martz speaks to the media every other week and it just so happened that this was a Martz week. One of the first questions, of course, was whether Martz felt he had been passed over when the 49ers were looking for an interim coach. Here's what Martz had to say on the topic:

"No. Not at all. I'll address this because it was kind of a question that I kind of expected from you, really. I didn't come here to do that. Let's understand that immediately. I came here because of Mike Nolan, and I think that Mike Singletary deserves this opportunity. We're all thrilled for him to have this opportunity, although the circumstances really diminished that part to some extent because Mike (Nolan) was such a good friend and is such a good friend. But at this point, we're all trying to help Mike (Singletary) in every way we can and help this football team move on to win. We were all hired to do a job and we're going to do it. In terms of this point? No. I didn't come here with any kind of a thought, nor did it pass my mind to be honest with you. I love what I'm doing, and that's why I'm here, and this is what I continue doing well. I've kind of had my moments in that respect, and it's time for all of us to get behind Mike and help him any way we can."

Though Mike Nolan seemed to be wavering on J.T. O'Sullivan the day before he was fired, Martz has not. And that should be no surprise. Martz's m.o. over the years has been to stick with one quarterback.

"I'll just lay it out for you real quick, and then really it's not an issue at all. J.T. is our quarterback. J.T. is going through a learning curve. He didn't have any preparation going into the league ... He is learning on the run, and we're trying to still come up with game plans that will challenge and beat teams that are really good, etc., etc. Right?"

Not much has been written about the 49ers losing fullback Zak Keasey for the season, but Martz said it has a big impact.

"We have not replaced him. We have not replaced Zak. So it does change. It does affect your running game dramatically."

Martz spoke about missed opportunities, such as the incompletion to Vernon Davis that would have gone for a touchdown against Philadelphia. I asked if those missed opportunities were typical for Year One of his offense.

"Way more than I'm used to. The plays that we normally make out here (at practice), we just sometimes don't make them. We put a lot of pressure on them. We've played some good teams, and when you play good teams like that it comes down to a couple of plays. You make them, you win. You don't, you don't win."

-- Matt Barrows