Jon Kitna is feeling his freedom
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Jon calls for freedom
If you had a chance to play quarterback in the NFL, to patrol the green striped turf, and be the ultimate general to 10 other warriors, who would you want as your coach?
Some guy always yelling at you to be careful and not create any turnovers?
Some guy reminding you constantly to be conservative?
Or pedal to the metal Mike Martz, a coach that calls the plays and then expects you to perform them?
For Kitna, the turning point came during a quarterbacks meeting last year when Martz uttered the following: “I can’t coach caution. If you’re cautious, I can’t coach you.”
“He holds everybody on offense accountable for what they’re supposed to do,” Kitna said. “So he calls a play and if we get the coverage we’re looking for, he says, ‘Your job is not to try to figure out whether that receiver will win (his battle against a defensive back). That’s his job to win. You just throw the ball.’ source
Oh yeah, Jon Kitna will take Coach Mike Martz any day. The hapless Detroit Lions are no more and in their place is a team that is growing and learning what it takes to win. Jon says Mike Martz plays big into that development.
“I’ve never heard Coach Martz say, ‘You can’t do that. We’re not going to call that play because you can’t make that throw.’ All he does is focus on the positives and builds me up. When I make mistakes, he gets on me and he’s very hard on me, but he’s everything I’ve ever hoped for in a coach — somebody who believes in me, who isn’t worried about who’s going to be the quarterback next year or anything like that. It’s just, ‘Hey, you’re my guy and let’s go.’”
Now hold on here, doesn’t Kitna get tossed on his back with alarming regularity, to the point that you think he won’t get back up?
Another reality in the Lions’ offense is that Kitna takes a great deal of hits. He was sacked an NFL-high 63 times last year and has been sacked a league-leading 28 times this season. Some of the reason has been poor pass protection, although that is partly due to Martz’s preference to use five blockers in order to have a maximum number of pass-catchers running routes. Another factor is Martz’s scheme, which often calls for the quarterback to take deeper drops and wait for patterns to develop. And Kitna has no hesitation about waiting, even when pass-rushers are bearing down on him.
The Bears are waiting for the Lions to arrive and licking their chops over the fact that the Lions have had a lot of difficulty on the road. This is not that uncommon for a team on the rise. They first must learn to win at home and then on the road.
How will Detroit fare against the Bears?
We have a big game this week, but at the same time it’s not a game that’s going to define us and define our season,” Kitna said. “We have to go up there, we have to try and win on the road. We have to execute better on the road than we have the last two times (losses at Philadelphia and Washington by a combined score of 90-24).
“The Bears are going to be playing with three, maybe four starters on defense that they didn’t have the last time we played them. They’re the defending NFC champions. They played good last week in pulling out a win (against the Eagles). We’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
Jon Kitna will still be Jon when the game is over and he will still feel the freedom that Mike Martz has instilled.
NFL Football Fan Question Who are you picking in the Bears vs. Lions game?
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POSTED IN: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions, Jon Kitna, NFL Football, Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz
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