Well you were going to crap on whomever they hired so nobody cares about you.
However, the coverage schemes that Zimmer runs are truly what makes his defense special. Zimmer began his coaching career as a defensive backs coach, so he tends to devote extra time to crafting his coverage schemes. Let’s break down what exactly that looks like.
“You better be able to play man coverage”
Zimmer’s coverage schemes are built on their versatility, but one key trait that the coach always seeks out is an ability to play press man coverage. Zimmer loves to run press man coverage behind his creative simulated pressure looks, as it makes things that much harder for quarterbacks to diagnose. And while he’s not opposed to zone coverage, Zimmer definitely prioritizes man coverage ability.
https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...zimmer-coverage-schemes-defensive-coordinator
The importance of safety play
Safety play has always been a key component of Zimmer’s defensive schemes. His first stint as a coordinator came in Dallas, where he worked with the likes of Darren Woodson and Roy Williams. Later, in Cincinnati, Zimmer similarly built his coverage schemes around Reggie Nelson and George Iloka. Upon taking the Vikings head coaching job, Zimmer was able to coach multiple Pro Bowls out of Harrison Smith. Much like Vic Fangio, whose scheme has taken the league by storm as of late, Zimmer often lines both of his safeties up deep and puts a lot on their plate. The two safety positions are practically interchangeable for Zimmer, as both will be asked to handle a wide variety of different roles and alignments. Zimmer frequently rotates his safeties after the snap, and loves to use them as potential pass rushers too.
Multiple, disguised coverages
As previously mentioned, Zimmer puts a priority on versatility on the back end. He has a very strong preference for press man coverage, and it’s very common to have two safeties split deep before the snap, but Zimmer often commits to changing things up after the snap. He frequently rotates his safeties, drops players into coverage after showing a blitz, and generally tries to make the quarterback think as much as possible after snapping the ball. Zimmer makes frequent use of
quarters coverage, which drops four defenders back deep, and has several different variations on it. Depending on the offense’s alignment, it can be split into quarters on one side and traditional Cover 2 on the other side (often referred to as Cover 6) or running a version of zone on one half of the field and traditional man coverage on the other half.
Zimmer also incorporates
pattern matching concepts into his coverage techniques. Pattern matching was made famous by Bill Belichick and Nick Saban - Zimmer and his disciples have often hired defensive backs coaches from those trees to best teach it - and, in simplest terms, it combines zone and man principles to allow defenders to adjust their coverage based on the route combinations being run. It’s much more complex than that, which is why the coaches that are teaching it are essential, but Zimmer has made extensive use of the concept in his coverage schemes for quite a while now.