How things change. Contrast that with the guy standing on the sidelines last Saturday, blandly watching the clock run down to :03, draining the very lifeblood out of his team. Emotionally, it was a terrible thing to do to his players. I have no confidence in you, he was telling them. I feel that you could screw it up. I won't let my QB throw a pass because it might get intercepted. I won't let my featured back run the ball because he might fumble.
Strategically it was loony, too, because his guys were working against a tired and demoralized Carolina defense that had just suffered through a 15-play drive and then had to take the field again because St. Louis recovered the onside kick. Four plays moved the ball 43 yards, down to the Panthers' 15. There was no pass rush, no life. This was a whipped team. The Rams didn't even have to throw, if Martz was so terrified of leaving it up to Marc Bulger. Marshall Faulk could have run the ball in. But they stood there, as the clock ticked down from 39 seconds, which was the time showing when Faulk was tackled, to 0:03. Unbelievable.
There were other weird things that Martz did in that game, plus an out-and-out screw-up, which came when most of them occur -- at the end of the first half.