While I expect the GROZ camp to rip me on this post, I think it’s unfounded and I’ll stick by my opinion. Mike Zimmer should be our next head coach – either next year if Parcells retires, or the year after if Parcells decides to play-out his contract.
I like mike Zimmer and I like him as a coach. Even Parcells saw a lot in him, which is why he talked him into staying in the NFL vs. becoming a head coach in college. Parcells even challenged him to learn/run the 3-4 and Zimmer did. Before Ellis went down, Zimmer was on the verge of making this a top-notch 3-4 defense. Much like he did with the 4-3 only several years ago. Post Ellis’ injury, Parcells forced Zimmer to stay in a conservative 3-4 set and that forced the defensive slide. It wasn’t until Parcells loosened his leash on Zimmer a bit that we saw more 4-3 alignments of late, which worked well in the playoffs when used (it was the Parcells-imposed 3-4 fronts that really cost us defensively against Seattle).
The point is this. The GROZ camp wants Zimmer gone so badly, but what you campers don’t realize is that Zimmer is a great defensive couch who can mount a solid defense if only Parcells lets him do it his way. After last season, we all thought that Sean Payton was too conservative and vanilla in his play calling, only to find out that what was really holding Payton back was Parcells in Dallas, and Jim Fassal before him in New York. Payton turned out quite well without the stubborn obstacles before him because he’s forward thinking. I see Zimmer the same way – he could easily have gone to college to run a 4-3 defense, yet he took on the challenge to stay and run the 3-4.
That says a lot about Zimmer’s abilities and I think that without Parcells in his way, he can run the Cowboys and lead the 4-3 defense attack with some 3-4 wrinkles. This move would make some good sense because Zimmer already knows the schemes and his players, and this team has been built on defense over the last few drafts. Also, because Zimmer is a defensive coach, as head coach he would bring in his own offensive coordinator who can still implement whatever changes/improvements that he wants to on offense. With Zimmer at the healm, we could build on and solidify the defensive players/schemes in place and turn attention to the offense with some new leadership/coordinator solely focused on that. I think it would be a win-win, and my only hope is that Parcells retires/gets out of the way so we can get this team going once and for all.
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If you can't say why, don't bother saying anything at all.
