<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>ST. LOUIS -- Mike Martz is out indefinitely as coach of the St. Louis Rams while he recovers from a bacterial infection near his heart.Martz, who has been ill for more than a month and missed two practices last week while undergoing tests, was on the sideline for the Rams' 37-31 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. After the game, which dropped the Rams to 2-3, Martz said he wished he had stayed home.The 54-year-old coach announced last week that he was being examined for endocarditis, a bacterial infection of the lining of the heart or a heart valve. Martz said at the time that his condition had worsened and began taking antibiotics Friday.Assistant head coach Joe Vitt will lead the team in Martz's absence. Players learned of Martz's status during a brief meeting Monday afternoon, but none would comment.Rams president John Shaw said in a statement Monday that Martz would be admitted to a hospital to continue his treatment."As a result of his condition, he will be unable to perform his head coaching responsibilities for an indefinite period of time," Shaw said.Martz spoke with a raspy voice but sounded optimistic about his health after Sunday's game. Still, he said that in retrospect, he should have allowed offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild to run the show."I wasn't myself this week, the game plan wasn't clear for me," Martz said. "It's over with now but I just feel what happened to me has affected this team, and that breaks my heart."Endocarditis affects 10,000 to 20,000 Americans each year and in some cases can cause require open-heart surgery, according to Dr. Arthur Labovitz, director of cardiology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.Martz was first hospitalized Sept. 30 with what was thought to be a sinus infection. He coached two days later during a 44-24 loss to the New York Giants.Now in his sixth season, Martz is 56-36 including the postseason. The Rams have missed the playoffs just once in his tenure (2002) and reached the Super Bowl after the 2001 season, losing 20-17 to New England.Martz joined the Rams as offensive coordinator in 1999, and his high-powered offense led St. Louis to its first Super Bowl title that season. He became head coach following Dick Vermeil's retirement after that championship run.NFL coaches are notorious for their long hours, and Martz is no exception, sometimes sleeping at the office. And heart problems have affected relatively young coaches before in the high-stress atmosphere of the NFL.Dan Reeves had a heart procedure while coaching Denver in his mid-40s. During the 1998 season, he underwent quadruple bypass season at age 54 but returned to the sidelines less than four weeks later to coach the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl.Dallas' Bill Parcells has had several heart procedures and cited health problems when he quit the New York Giants after winning his second Super Bowl with them at age 49 in 1991. He has since coached New England and the New York Jets as well as the Cowboys.In 1988, Chicago coach Mike Ditka suffered a heart attack at the age of 49 and missed just one game. Two weeks later, in Washington, he was supposed to be just an observer, but ended up coaching the game.</div>Mike Martz is back in the hospital with his heart problems and this time its indefinitely. So now the assistant coach Joe Vitt will take over. How much does this hurt the Rams guys?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SickVick7 @ Oct 10 2005, 06:35 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>How much does this hurt the Rams guys?</div> I donno, this may be just me, but I think this will help the Rams rally together during his absense, to show their support for their coach, I wouldn't be supprised to see them win a couple of their upcoming games--you know, going into the game like "This ones for coach, lets do this" kind of attitude. Its a shame to see Martz in such tough shape, that doesn't sound like anything ANYONE would want, anything involving a heart is bad news.
I think they'll be motivated to win games, but they would rather have their good coach there than not have him at all.
The question is, which is going to outweigh the other? A.) The absense of their very ill head coach rallying the team. OR,B.)The presense of Joe Vitt as their substitute head coach being unable to gameplan as well as Martz.I say A. And they will do well even w/o Martz.
Well they're going to put it to the test right away. There facing Indy this week. Two high flyin offenses. Martz usually uses a little bit of trickery in each of his games we'll see how Joe Vitt and the Rams will fair against this new and improved Colts defense.
Were gonna have a tough monday night. Were not at home, Our second string reciever, isaak bruce, is injured, and our head coach is in critical condition. I hope mike and the team can make it through this hard time. No matter what happens this year i just want mike to get better. but still would be awsome to get in the superbowl.
the rams ASst. Coach did a good job on monday night. Even tho we lost m still good play alling by him . I think we can win games with him.
Now they are saying that he may never coach in St. Louis again, his contract is up in a year and the talk "backstage" is that him and the owners don't see eye to eye and this will probably give them a reason to part ways.
eh id dunno, maybe they'll do better who knows. They could end up running the ball more rather than passing.
