49ers' Smith eager to soak up instruction from Martz

SANTA CLARA — Quarterback Alex Smith struggled early in 49ers practice Monday morning, throwing an interception and missing on a couple of other passes.

But offensive coordinator Mike Martz already had the antidote. He reminded Smith to bend his knees when he throws. It was a simple solution that provided immediate results.

Smith said he did not receive the kind of detailed coaching in his first three NFL seasons that he gets daily with Martz. The reminder he received Monday appeared to make a huge difference, as Smith strung together his best passes through four days of training camp.

He completed his final 10 passes of the morning during the 49ers’ 11-on-11 session. He fired two beautiful intermediate passes near the sideline to receiver Bryant Johnson, including a 24-yard touchdown.

“He (Martz) sees so much stuff,” Smith said. “He sees the body and the feet. Today, he mentioned that about my knee bend. You never want to stand straight up, but as a quarterback you’re not always thinking about your knee bend.”

Former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski pointed out last season that Smith had what he considered a major mechanical flaw in his throwing technique. Smith often threw with a rigid front leg, contributing to a lack of accuracy, Jaworski said.

Martz sees Smith’s mechanical problem as a symptom of something larger. In this case, Smith’s technique was flawed because he remains uncertain of his responsibilities in the team’s offensive system, Martz said.

“He’s not sure and won’t turn it loose,” Martz said. “He’s guessing where (the receiver) is going to be, instead of being real positive about it. That’s when he gets stiff-legged.”

Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in 2005, finds himself in competition for the 49ers’ starting quarterback job with Shaun Hill, a seventh-year pro who has never opened a season as a starter.

The two have plenty to learn, and Martz expects things to pick up within the week.

“Right now, it’s organized chaos and they’re just trying to learn all this stuff,” Martz said.

Martz’s offense leaves nothing to improvisation. While Smith’s stronger arm enables him to throw better intermediate and deep routes, Hill looks more comfortable getting the ball out quickly to underneath receivers. But the quarterbacks do not make those decisions for themselves, Martz said.

“They don’t have those kinds of choices to make. There is no judgment,” Martz said. “We’re not going to do what they want to do because they feel they should go down the field or check down. It doesn’t work like that.

“You have to identify the defense and make a real quick decision based on what we’ve told them to do, and you have to stay with that. There is no interpretation.”

There is also no interpretation for Martz, who does not pattern his offense for the kinds of players he had with the St. Louis Rams — known in those days as “The Greatest Show on Turf” — or anywhere else.

“It’s always about tailoring a system to the personnel,” Martz said. “That’s why we use this system. It allows you to move in the direction of the strength of the personnel, whether it’s in the running game or the passing game or the tight ends, backs or with a particular receiver.”

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Maiocco at 521-5492 or matt.maiocco@pressdemocrat.com