Martz's Passing Offense

[BearFan PHX]

I realize that it won't mean much if we can't run the ball or pass protect, but still I'm surprised there hasn't been much discussion here about Martz's passing scheme.

 

I watched the preseason game, and I replayed every passing down the Bears had. The scheme is GREAT.

 

EVERY down had multiple receivers open, sometimes WIDE open.

 

You know how when we play certain teams, you feel so frustrated at our coverage, like "how are THEY always open, and we NEVER are??" I think we're about to be one of those other teams.

 

I'm used to seeing receivers used to clear space and then hitting the guy underneath. I saw similar shapes, but it seemed that in a lot of the plays, the underneath guy was getting open first, and pulling the defense to him, and then the intermediary guy flashed open second, and made the play. This is really interesting. The underneath guy was open in a lot of cases which is what pulled the defense to him, and yet the QB didn't throw and threw on the second beat to the downfield receiver. I wonder if this is what they mean when they say the QB doesn't read in the traditional sense in the Martz offense. Maybe he read the safety or some spacing in the defense at and just after the snap, and so he didn't dump off to the first guy, but KNEW the play would develop into a good matchup for the intermediary guy.

 

Urlacher said in an interview recently of facing the Martz scheme in practice ""It's frustrating going against them because you think you've got a guy covered and there's a guy behind you every time."

 

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?STORY_ID=6961

 

I'm starting to see what he meant.

 

There were also plays where receivers went long and then running backs looped underneath. On one, the Bears had trips left, and sent them all into long patters, then Chester Taylor looped underneath for a big gain to pick up the first down. Int hat play, rather than Taylor looping into the left flat, as you would normally see, he had run thru the hole behind the RIGHT SIDE guard, and given a shoulder to the linebacker on THAT side of the field. It was a very clever way to get him into the void and not draw attention, since he came fro "the other side" even though it was only about a foot across the line of symmetry. It was enough to void the space by the defense's rules tho. Martz is clearly excellent exploiting defensive holes in coverage.

 

I love that an simple I formation or double tight end set becomes the run and shoot after a beat. When they add in motion, it's gonna be pretty amazing.

 

I only saw one play where four receivers (3 and a TE) went deep on all fly patterns, it turned out to be a delayed middle running back screen to Wolfe - GOOD IDEA!

 

I also noticed some plays where familiar route combinations that complement each other (like a go and an out) happened in non traditional areas of the field. We're all used to see the smash route, where the outside receiver goes deep and the slot or TE runs a 7 yard out. It's obvious why that works, it can beat man or zone, but it's vanilla, and well understood by NFL defenses. Martz had a play where guys were running from strange angles and then arrived at that shape 15 yards downfield. THIS is creative application of basic ideas.

 

I can see why the QB needs to hold the ball longer with Martz. I can see hpw if you give this guy a smart QB, speedy receivers and an extra second of pass protection, you're going to score a LOT of points.

 

I still want to see us run the damned ball and pass protect, but as an OC, I think we're going to be pretty happy with Martz.

 

I was very impressed at my first look at his passing system.

[Cutsizzle]

Agreed, can't wait to see Cutler find the open WR's

[bradjock]

That's one helluva an analysis NYC. Great job. I can't wait to rewatch the game. It was amazing how wide open our guys were. Especially compared to late in the game. Our offense in the 4th quarter looked like we typically looked. Fortunately most of those guys won't be on the team.

 

I will ask this: What happened on the o-line breakdowns?

 

 

 

I realize that it won't mean much if we can't run the ball or pass protect, but still I'm surprised there hasn't been much discussion here about Martz's passing scheme.

 

I watched the preseason game, and I replayed every passing down the Bears had. The scheme is GREAT.

 

EVERY down had multiple receivers open, sometimes WIDE open.

 

You know how when we play certain teams, you feel so frustrated at our coverage, like "how are THEY always open, and we NEVER are??" I think we're about to be one of those other teams.

 

I'm used to seeing receivers used to clear space and then hitting the guy underneath. I saw similar shapes, but it seemed that in a lot of the plays, the underneath guy was getting open first, and pulling the defense to him, and then the intermediary guy flashed open second, and made the play. This is really interesting. The underneath guy was open in a lot of cases which is what pulled the defense to him, and yet the QB didn't throw and threw on the second beat to the downfield receiver. I wonder if this is what they mean when they say the QB doesn't read in the traditional sense in the Martz offense. Maybe he read the safety or some spacing in the defense at and just after the snap, and so he didn't dump off to the first guy, but KNEW the play would develop into a good matchup for the intermediary guy.

 

Urlacher said in an interview recently of facing the Martz scheme in practice ""It's frustrating going against them because you think you've got a guy covered and there's a guy behind you every time."

 

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?STORY_ID=6961

 

I'm starting to see what he meant.

 

There were also plays where receivers went long and then running backs looped underneath. On one, the Bears had trips left, and sent them all into long patters, then Chester Taylor looped underneath for a big gain to pick up the first down. Int hat play, rather than Taylor looping into the left flat, as you would normally see, he had run thru the hole behind the RIGHT SIDE guard, and given a shoulder to the linebacker on THAT side of the field. It was a very clever way to get him into the void and not draw attention, since he came fro "the other side" even though it was only about a foot across the line of symmetry. It was enough to void the space by the defense's rules tho. Martz is clearly excellent exploiting defensive holes in coverage.

 

I love that an simple I formation or double tight end set becomes the run and shoot after a beat. When they add in motion, it's gonna be pretty amazing.

 

I only saw one play where four receivers (3 and a TE) went deep on all fly patterns, it turned out to be a delayed middle running back screen to Wolfe - GOOD IDEA!

 

I also noticed some plays where familiar route combinations that complement each other (like a go and an out) happened in non traditional areas of the field. We're all used to see the smash route, where the outside receiver goes deep and the slot or TE runs a 7 yard out. It's obvious why that works, it can beat man or zone, but it's vanilla, and well understood by NFL defenses. Martz had a play where guys were running from strange angles and then arrived at that shape 15 yards downfield. THIS is creative application of basic ideas.

 

I can see why the QB needs to hold the ball longer with Martz. I can see hpw if you give this guy a smart QB, speedy receivers and an extra second of pass protection, you're going to score a LOT of points.

 

I still want to see us run the damned ball and pass protect, but as an OC, I think we're going to be pretty happy with Martz.

 

I was very impressed at my first look at his passing system.

 

[jason]

Love this thread so much.

[jason]

Things I liked:

-Tons of formations

-Multiple WR sets

-Various formation shifts that had obvious intention

-WIDE open WRs

-A WIDE open TE on an out route (that reeks of play design)

-Decent pass blocking

-Aromashodu looks great, shields with his body well, and has rock solid hands. He MUST start.

 

Things I didn't like:

-QBs took hits, hard ones

-Hanie looks completely lost, and "nobody is open" when he's in the game...if you know what I'm saying

-Hanie has bad vision. On the DA touchdown, he completely overlooked Ta'ufo'uo standing by himself at the goalline

 

Unrelated:

-Did not like the running calls

-Did not like the run blocking

[bradjock]

-Aromashodu looks great, shields with his body well, and has rock solid hands. He MUST start.

 

Agreed DA looks great. But there's too much emphasis on him "must starting." Keep him hungry. Martz will do what he wants.

 

Things I didn't like:

-QBs took hits, hard ones

 

Damn good point. This is a problem.

 

-Hanie looks completely lost, and "nobody is open" when he's in the game...if you know what I'm saying

-Hanie has bad vision. On the DA touchdown, he completely overlooked Ta'ufo'uo standing by himself at the goalline

 

Another good point. We've made an offer to Todd Collins the 15 year veteran. He always seemed to torch the Bears when he played against us.

 

-Did not like the running calls

-Did not like the run blocking

 

Was it just me, or did you feel like Martz was saying, "This is a pre-season game and we're going to show you that we're going to run the ball straight up the middle no matter what the hell the defense is anticipating."

 

The run-blocking sucked. However, it seemed like they had 11 defensive players in the box. If we can pass the ball consistently, the running game will open up.

[brletich]

I liked the passing game, except for the interior offensive line. It just seemed to me that after the first series when Olin left, the 3 interior guys were consistently blown straight back into the QB's face. I saw 4 or 5 plays at minimum where Beekman looked like he was on roller skates he was going backwards so fast. That to me is very worrying because we looked weak at the point of attack, same as the past 2 or 3 years. It looked to me like not much had changed.

 

On the defensive side (I know this is an offensive thread but I am too lazy to start a new one) I HATE the fact that the CB's are still 7-10 yards off the receiver on every play. Same old same old, and I don't see us being a mediocre defense, let alone a good one, unless that changes, which with Lovie it won't.

[GrizzlyBear]

I liked the passing game, except for the interior offensive line. It just seemed to me that after the first series when Olin left, the 3 interior guys were consistently blown straight back into the QB's face. I saw 4 or 5 plays at minimum where Beekman looked like he was on roller skates he was going backwards so fast. That to me is very worrying because we looked weak at the point of attack, same as the past 2 or 3 years. It looked to me like not much had changed.

 

Well no worry there Beekman dropped to third string on guard center he still 2. Late in the game for scrubs anyway.

 

On the defensive side (I know this is an offensive thread but I am too lazy to start a new one) I HATE the fact that the CB's are still 7-10 yards off the receiver on every play. Same old same old, and I don't see us being a mediocre defense, let alone a good one, unless that changes, which with Lovie it won't.

I said the exact samething about the CB's. But then I realized that Iam sure the bears are not showing thier hand quite yet. First game is judging where they are right now in concept. Second game look for tighter coverages and better rushes. Also the Backs had trouble on picking blitzes, and SD blitzed quite a bit, I was surprised to see it. But overall I think The Bears looked good when the starters were in there.

[balta1701-A]

On the defensive side (I know this is an offensive thread but I am too lazy to start a new one) I HATE the fact that the CB's are still 7-10 yards off the receiver on every play. Same old same old, and I don't see us being a mediocre defense, let alone a good one, unless that changes, which with Lovie it won't.

If your pass rush does its job that's exactly where the CB's should be.

[brletich]

If your pass rush does its job that's exactly where the CB's should be.

 

How can you pass rush if the 5 yard slant and 5 yard out is open for 7-10 yards EVERY play? No pass rush is gonna get there in those circumstances. 3 step drops killed this defense last year and it looks like it will this year again.

[AZ54]

I read somewhere from either Marinelli or Hoke that they were going to play more press coverage, or at least be closer to the LOS, this year. Either they were BSing or they don't want to show that yet and just let 'em stay back in the base "take your 5-7yds" coverage.

 

Once again I'll believe it when I see it out this coaching staff.

[nfoligno]

I have read many times the staff talking about playing more aggressive, but had not read we were planning to play press coverage.

 

I did read that our DBs were playing some press coverage in practice, but that was for the offense. On offense, Drake and Martz wanted our WRs to work on beating the press. The only way to do that is to have the DBs press them in practice. But this was done in order to help the offense, not because our defense was planning on making such a change.

 

 

 

I read somewhere from either Marinelli or Hoke that they were going to play more press coverage, or at least be closer to the LOS, this year. Either they were BSing or they don't want to show that yet and just let 'em stay back in the base "take your 5-7yds" coverage.

 

Once again I'll believe it when I see it out this coaching staff.

 

[BearFan2000]

I have read many times the staff talking about playing more aggressive, but had not read we were planning to play press coverage.

 

I did read that our DBs were playing some press coverage in practice, but that was for the offense. On offense, Drake and Martz wanted our WRs to work on beating the press. The only way to do that is to have the DBs press them in practice. But this was done in order to help the offense, not because our defense was planning on making such a change.

 

One would think the next logical step would be for our DBs to use press coverage, seems silly to practice it simply to benefit the Offense and then on game day not to use it. This logic seems like it should be both ways, helping the WRs learn to beat jams and press coverage but also helping the DBs get better at jamming and pressing. But there I go thinking logically, this is Lovie's passive defense. I'm tired of the whole passive bend but don't break and watching opposing offenses bend our D over backwards. It's about time we started taking the fight to someone else rather than them taking the fight to us.

[BearFan PHX]

Um? The PASSING game on offense?

[defiantgiant]

-Aromashodu looks great, shields with his body well, and has rock solid hands. He MUST start.

Most of our receivers have some pretty good hands, from the look of things in camp. Hester, especially, has been catching everything in sight this offseason. Chicago Breaking Sports tracked all the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills in camp, and did a breakdown of targets/receptions for each receiver. I was curious, so I did their catch percentages, and they're all pretty good. Granted, they're probably a little inflated due to 7-on-7 work, but still, check it out:

 

Name Catches-Targets (Percentage)

Greg Olsen: 55-of-86 (63.95%)

Devin Aromashodu: 51-of-77 (66.23%)

Johnny Knox: 50-of-77 (64.93%)

Devin Hester: 59-of-76 (77.63%)

Rashied Davis: 20-of-39 (51.28%)

Matt Forte: 27-of-38 (71.05%)

Chester Taylor: 23-of-31 (74.19%)

Desmond Clark: 16-of-23 (69.56%)

 

My thoughts: Olsen's catch rate should really be a little higher if he's going to be an elite receiving TE, a la Dallas Clark or Antonio Gates, but it's not terrible by any means. You'd like your TE to be more of a reliable target, but if Olsen's going to be used on deep patterns like a wideout, maybe it's OK for him to have a more wideout-like catch rate. Rashied Davis apparently still has stone hands. Other than that, though, everybody looks great. Hester and the running backs are especially impressive.

[nfoligno]

Pretty much agreed all around. I am not too worried about Olsen. I have not read about him dropping a lot of passes, so I think it may be more a matter of (as you said) playing him downfield like a WR, and if you are a field stretcher, your % is going to be lower.

 

Ironic about Davis. All I have read about was how great he has been looking in camp, even moving ahead of Bennett on the depth chart, but his % is really low, especially for a WR who likely does a lot more short/mid range work rather than downfield.

 

 

Most of our receivers have some pretty good hands, from the look of things in camp. Hester, especially, has been catching everything in sight this offseason. Chicago Breaking Sports tracked all the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills in camp, and did a breakdown of targets/receptions for each receiver. I was curious, so I did their catch percentages, and they're all pretty good. Granted, they're probably a little inflated due to 7-on-7 work, but still, check it out:

 

Name Catches-Targets (Percentage)

Greg Olsen: 55-of-86 (63.95%)

Devin Aromashodu: 51-of-77 (66.23%)

Johnny Knox: 50-of-77 (64.93%)

Devin Hester: 59-of-76 (77.63%)

Rashied Davis: 20-of-39 (51.28%)

Matt Forte: 27-of-38 (71.05%)

Chester Taylor: 23-of-31 (74.19%)

Desmond Clark: 16-of-23 (69.56%)

 

My thoughts: Olsen's catch rate should really be a little higher if he's going to be an elite receiving TE, a la Dallas Clark or Antonio Gates, but it's not terrible by any means. You'd like your TE to be more of a reliable target, but if Olsen's going to be used on deep patterns like a wideout, maybe it's OK for him to have a more wideout-like catch rate. Rashied Davis apparently still has stone hands. Other than that, though, everybody looks great. Hester and the running backs are especially impressive.

 

[AZ54]

Having installed a new "timing" offense, one dramatically different from what we ran last year, while having such a young WRs corps I was expecting far worse performance at least at the start of the camp. I think it really shows how hard these guys worked during the offseason.

[bowlingtwig]

Pretty much agreed all around. I am not too worried about Olsen. I have not read about him dropping a lot of passes, so I think it may be more a matter of (as you said) playing him downfield like a WR, and if you are a field stretcher, your % is going to be lower.

 

Ironic about Davis. All I have read about was how great he has been looking in camp, even moving ahead of Bennett on the depth chart, but his % is really low, especially for a WR who likely does a lot more short/mid range work rather than downfield.

But like its been stated before Davis moving ahead of Bennett on the depth chart is nothing. Bennett hasn't been on the field. Hell at this point I would like to see Zeke Markshausen given a chance. I know the kid as he went to high school with my wife and hes got good hands but then again anyone has better hands than Davis. Davis has done this a couple of times before in the past where he looks good in preseason and then come regular season he can't do anything.