Zimmer wasn't a very good D-Coordinator here. He had 1 good season (2003) and then went back to a historically awful 2004 season on defense. 2006 was the straw that broke the camel's back as we couldn't figure out how to get a linebacker to cover even a fullback coming out of the backfield. Although I blame that on making Paul Pasqualoni the ILB coach that year as he is the worst football coach I have ever seen in college or the pros who had a long track record of underperformance at whatever part of the team he coached.
Zimmer stunk in Atlanta, although that was just for 1 year and that was under Bobby Petrino.
Where Zimmer started to come alive was in Cincinnati. Although it helped to have one of the best defensive coaches in the past 20 years as the Head Coach. I do think he learned quite a bit from Lewis as his defenses in Cincy and in Minny get after the passer better and can actually blitz worth a damn which is something he struggled badly with in Dallas.
I always felt he was a good DB coach although what he's doing isn't overly complex...he's a zone coverage coach and as he once said in Hard Knocks, you can find zone corners anywhere. Still, there have been plenty of years where I wished our DB's could play zone as well as Zimmer's.
GROZ existed for good reason. He wasn't likely to get any better here and his defenses were just not very good in Dallas. He finally did improve and I know he knows how to schmooze the media and I'm sure when he criticizes the Cowboys to ESPN, they eat it up. But the fact is that the guy hasn't been a part of a team that has won 1 playoff game in the past 16 years.
The Vikings have an impressive defense, but it's filled with high draft picks and well established veterans. IIRC, Dallas went something like 8 years in a row without drafting an offensive player in the first round because Zimmer couldn't get the defense turned around.
I think Zimmer is now established as a good defensive coach, but I can't see labeling him as somebody that the Cowboys missed out on and I tend to appreciate the job that Marinelli has done with this defense because I don't think Zimmer could have pulled it off.
YR
