Bell on Zimmer scheme for Cowboys' D: 'We love it'

[big dog cowboy]

Adding LB's and moving Bell back to S was a no brainer. It's just preseason, but it's already paying off.

Bell on Zimmer scheme for Cowboys' D: 'We love it'
Aug 11, 2024
Patrik Walker
DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES — One year ago, Markquese Bell was being converted to linebacker by Dan Quinn for a Dallas Cowboys' defense that was in desperate need of depth at the position in the wake of then rookie DeMarvion Overshown suffering a torn ACL. Now moved back to safety by Mike Zimmer, Bell is playing like his hair is on fire and the nearest extinguisher is empty.

In the preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams, Bell not only delivered a game-high nine combined tackles, but also an interception on Stetson Bennett while narrowly missing another two takeaways in the air.

It seems he's primed for what could be a breakout season in 2024.

"I just gotta give credit to my teammates because they made my job a lot easier," he said following the matchup against the Rams. "Being out there with elite athletes and great teammates, it allows me to fly around like I like to do."

"That's all we preach," said Bell. "We're a defense that gets the ball. If we don't take the ball away, we feel like we didn't reach our goal. Our goal [today] was three, and we got past our goal. "All of us."

https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/bell-on-zimmer-scheme-for-cowboys-d-we-love-it

 

[Chasing6]

I believe he had 9 tackles in less than half the game.

 

[darealvelle]

It showed

 

[Teague31]

zimmer is light years better than Quinn

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

zimmer is light years better than Quinn

Honestly I think Zimmer is going to open a lot of eyes to just how poorly coached this defense was the last few years.

Dallas has some transcendent talents (and had a ton of luck on the turnover side of things the last few years) that really masked a lot of Quinn’s deficiencies.

 

[DuncanIso]

Didn’t see a lot of the AA gap.

A lot of base D.

The collapse at the end was disappointing.

But didn’t expect them to show everything in Preseason week 1.

 

[DuncanIso]

Honestly I think Zimmer is going to open a lot of eyes to just how poorly coached this defense was the last few years.

Dallas has some transcendent talents (and had a ton of luck on the turnover side of things the last few years) that really masked a lot of Quinn’s deficiencies.

We had one of the top defenses with DQ.

 

[Cowboy_svt]

from what i saw i liked it a lot

 

[Coogiguy03]

Oh please we're going to die by the blitz, we blitz but the QB gets the ball off OL picks it up and boom CB's exposed!!

 

[stiletto]

Quinn's defense always seemed feast or famine chaotic to me. Zimmers looks to be assignment oriented and everyone filling their gap and running to the ball. More discipline. Hope it works better. Im not gonna get excited by the turnovers from the rams because their QB was trash but it would be nice if that isn't a total sacrifice of the new philosophy. Maybe we'll get enough to do what needs to be done.

 

[WillieBeamen]

zimmer is light years better than Quinn

Lol

 

[WillieBeamen]

Honestly I think Zimmer is going to open a lot of eyes to just how poorly coached this defense was the last few years.

Dallas has some transcendent talents (and had a ton of luck on the turnover side of things the last few years) that really masked a lot of Quinn’s deficiencies.

Lol you guys are shameless

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

We had one of the top defenses with DQ.

We all know that designation was immensely reliant on generating a league leading number of turnovers in back to back seasons and that turnovers in the NFL are completely unpredictable year over year.

Dallas also had a complete inability to stop the run during Quinn’s tenure.

Sure, on paper they were a top 5 unit, but anyone watching on Sundays knew that the numbers really didn’t tell the whole story.

 

[Chasing6]

We had one of the top defenses with DQ.

Absolutely. They looked great against GB.

 

[blueblood70]

Come on man it was nice to see but it was preseason so I'm not taking any positives or negatives and over selling it come on.... I'll see you at game one against a team that actually has a proven defense and we'll see how this goes,,, I mean I gotta see the starters and some game planning and scheming and in game adjustments when it really counts...

It always seems like everything's great as soon as you make a change just getting rid of marinelli and then we went to Nolan and we couldn't wait to get rid of him for sure and then Dan Quinn seemed like a savior because of how bad it really was and he had our defenses in a pretty damn good place except for the run game and the fact that he used undersized players and whatnot I'm not saying it wasn't time to get rid of them but come on man if anything's gonna look better when you just had your defense give up like 6 touchdowns in a playoff game

I'm glad we moved on I think a change was needed but let's tap the brakes on how this is gonna be so much better until we actually see it...

 

[Chasing6]

Come on man it was nice to see but it was preseason so I'm not taking any positives or negatives and over selling it come on.... I'll see you at game one against a team that actually has a proven defense and we'll see how this goes,,, I mean I gotta see the starters and some game planning and scheming and in game adjustments when it really counts...

It always seems like everything's great as soon as you make a change just getting rid of marinelli and then we went to Nolan and we couldn't wait to get rid of him for sure and then Dan Quinn seemed like a savior because of how bad it really was and he had our defenses in a pretty damn good place except for the run game and the fact that he used undersized players and whatnot I'm not saying it wasn't time to get rid of them but come on man if anything's gonna look better when you just had your defense give up like 6 touchdowns in a playoff game

I'm glad we moved on I think a change was needed but let's tap the brakes on how this is gonna be so much better until we actually see it...

So preseason does really mean nothing.

 

[Cowboy_svt]

We all know that designation was immensely reliant on generating a league leading number of turnovers in back to back seasons and that turnovers in the NFL are completely unpredictable year over year.

Dallas also had a complete inability to stop the run during Quinn’s tenure.

Sure, on paper they were a top 5 unit, but anyone watching on Sundays knew that the numbers really didn’t tell the whole story.

i think last year was due to injuries and he couldnt make it work without sacrificing other areas of the defense
The year before it was pretty good in both categories and especially in the playoffs where it matters the most, bucs and niners couldnt do jack squat.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

i think last year was due to injuries and he couldnt make it work without sacrificing other areas of the defense
The year before it was pretty good in both categories and especially in the playoffs where it matters the most, bucs and niners couldnt do jack squat.

The defense under Quinn was fine but I think that Zimmer will be able to create a more consistently good unit than they ever were under Quinn.

All of this remains to be seen though. Perhaps I'll be wishing Quinn was still here by week 5 this year, but so far I've liked what I see.

 

[RonWashington]

Marquise Bell was an UDFA who Quinn personally went out to Florida to meet .
The scheme that stuck out yesterday was blitzing not much in this package but extensive center field coverage which is nice because under Quinn I often wondered where are the safeties ?

If Parsons does play a true LB mode this year and drops back I hope Kneeland and DLaw can provide a rush . The only player to get to the Ram QB was a LB .

 

[Momanpr100]

Honestly I think Zimmer is going to open a lot of eyes to just how poorly coached this defense was the last few years.

Dallas has some transcendent talents (and had a ton of luck on the turnover side of things the last few years) that really masked a lot of Quinn’s deficiencies.

Glad that's Washington's problem now