Martz: 'Detroit was not a good football team'

Martz: 'Detroit was not a good football team'
During a chalktalk sessions with fans, new San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz�revealed the more accurate NFL rankings in terms of sacks per pass play which he said had never been extraordinary, and in fact, quite good up until he went to Detroit.

"In Detroit we were not a good football team," said Martz. "We were last in the NFL on defense and when you have to throw the football to win, that's not a good thing. We weren't good enough on the offensive line to protect him and throw the ball like we did. When I was with the Rams, we were. The number of hits on the quarterback when I was with the Rams near the end of my time there was about the middle of the pack. In the early goings, it was actually very low and we were ranked near the best in the league."

Packers will improve from within, not by breaking bank
This year,�the Green Bay Packers dived a little deeper into the free-agent pool with the three-year, $5.4 million contract they gave linebacker Brandon Chillar, but it was hardly the kind of impact move the New England Patriots made last year to improve their chances of making it to the Super Bowl.

Both McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson are sticking to their plan of improving from within. And even with the loss of Favre to retirement, they both feel the maturation of their young talent will lead them to bigger and better things this year.

"I feel very strongly about that because we have youth on our side, our system of how we develop the players on a one-on-one basis in the off-season that works," McCarthy said. "We proved that last year. Now we need to do that again this year. That's my job, to make sure it gets done. I feel we have an opportunity once again to improve within."