What a Mike Zimmer Defense brings to Dallas Cowboys

[MyFairLady]

I am always excited when a guy who failed 20 years ago comes back front the old folks home at 70 years old to give it another shot. Definitely something to be optimistic about.

 

[MyFairLady]

Definitely would not want a young energetic coach with fresh new ideas to come in here and transform the franchise for the next 25 years.

 

[Floatyworm]

What he already brought to Dallas 20 years ago when he was NOT a dinosaur DC that had been out of the league - the STILL STANDING NFL record for most 200 yard rushers allowed in a single season.

Not only that....but I honestly don't think he knows what man press coverage is...He is more than content playing that soft zone nickle cloud that just gives up one first down after another.

 

[America's Cowboy]

Definitely would not want a young energetic coach with fresh new ideas to come in here and transform the franchise for the next 25 years.

Cowboys tried that with Kellen Moore on offense. Moore is now on his 3rd team in the last 3 years.

 

[JoeKing]

Zim will have the run D fixed. Al Harris will have the passing D finely honed. Expect a record number of INTs this season.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Zimmer is a good coach.

Never understood G.R.O.Z

But he was also the easiest, most comfortable, Jerry pick that Jerry could have made.

I think I understand it. The defense was bad and people wanted someone to blame. Jerry had been giving fans what they wanted spending like a loon in VFA and instead of looking to the awful roster and it's lack of talent, they looked for a scapegoat.

You see people doing the same type of thing today. As much as things change they stay the same.

 

[superonyx]

Fans like to take defensive rankings and performance and put it all on the DC. Its interesting how we look at the talent on the offensive side of the ball when judging an offensive teams rankings and stats but don't do nearly the same with the defense. I get it. It's much harder to watch and understand how having certain safeties vs other safeties impacts the game but I think when we pull up a random season and say "the vikings defense was bad that year so Zimmer sucks" we should look at who was bad. Coaches can scheme and hide some weaknesses on the field but ultimately the players do matter just as much.

That said I believe we have solid defensive personnel to expect Zimmer and our Defense to be very good this year.

 

[KMY_Amber]

I am always excited when a guy who failed 20 years ago comes back front the old folks home at 70 years old to give it another shot. Definitely something to be optimistic about.

Lady, I'm over here in tears. Oh, the sarcasm.

But seriously, this team desperately needed better defensive schemes and looks at the LOS. And Zimm is known for that. But it's going to take time for this defense to get used to Zimm's deceptive schemes and pressure looks at the LOS, so I expect some blown coverages early.

Having said that, he's old, and I'm not sure if his philosophies will work here...but this defense had maxed out its potential with Quinn. I would have preferred a younger DC as well, even one from college that showed promise...but oh well. We'll see.

My eyes are still red from laughing at your comment though

 

[CWR]

I admire any Dallas Cowboys fan who has been able to forget one of several low points of the Dave Campo head coaching era. Mike Zimmer was his defensive coordinator in 2000:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/s/2000/1203/921684.html


The Cleveland Browns (2003) and Buffalo Bills (2016) tied the same record after Dallas set it. I will edit this post with those verifiable links momentarily.

EDIT

https://www.toledoblade.com/sports/pro/2003/12/22/Another-fluke-for-Lewis/stories/200312220032


https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/nfl/bills-eliminated-from-playoff-contention-1.3912330

Yes because those Dave Campo teams were absolutely loaded with talent.

 

[DandyDon52]

Last year we had virtually no lbers so I don’t see how any scheme succeeds. Let’s hope these new additions pan out

yeah the had micah, but he rarely plays LB and when he does he wasnt all that good at it.
I forgot about the safetys playing lb lol.

 

[Manster_Mash]

A new scape goat?

Nailed it. Same people celebrating the Zimmer hire were also celebrating the Quinn hire. Wash -rinse- repeat.

 

[Proof]

Well.......here are some DVOA rankings for his Viking's D. Not bad.....

Viking year by year defensive ranking (DVOA) under Zimmer​

I wanted to look this up and post it because I've seen a lot of people say that we had bad defenses in 2018 and 2019. Which is false (cue Dwight face). I think what happened was our D was so good in 2017 that by comparison '18 and '19 seemed worse then they were because we were expecting them to be nearly as good as '17. Usually these comments are made in one of the endless Kirk arguments to say he never had a good defense. I just wanted to correct the history that gets a little murky on here.
DVOA isn't perfect but it gives you a good idea of about where that team ranked in that category. Here is an explanation from Football Outsider's website:

Vikings DVOA rankings under Zim:​

Year	DVOA	DVOA Rank	Points/Yards Rank	DVOA TM Rank (Since 1983, so out of 38)
2020	3.4%	18	29/27	27
2019	-12.3%	4	5/14	11
2018	-12.6%	3	9/4	10
2017	-17.2%	1	1/1	4
2016	-9.4%	7	6/3	14
2015	-1.4%	14	5/13	22

The other shocking thing is our 2020 defense wasn't as bad as we all remember (although I think the 18th ranking is a bit high) I'm guessing Alvin Kamara deleted anything positive from our brains. We should be poised for a giant bounce back.


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Mike Zimmer was the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 2014–2021, during which time his defense was ranked in the top 10 five times. The Vikings also made the playoffs three times during his tenure, including a trip to the NFC Championship Game. Zimmer was fired after an 8–9 season with a career record of 72–56–1.

who were his star defenders. off the top of my head it was hunter, barr, rhodes and ...harrison smith?

 

[DuncanIso]

I think I understand it. The defense was bad and people wanted someone to blame. Jerry had been giving fans what they wanted spending like a loon in VFA and instead of looking to the awful roster and it's lack of talent, they looked for a scapegoat.

You see people doing the same type of thing today. As much as things change they stay the same.

Zimm likes the 4-3

Bill wanted 3-4

 

[Proof]

Nailed it. Same people celebrating the Zimmer hire were also celebrating the Quinn hire. Wash -rinse- repeat.

the quinn hire was the great. yes, the end results were not what you'd hope, but overall his term here was remarkable.

 

[DuncanIso]

the quinn hire was the great. yes, the end results were not what you'd hope, but overall his term here was remarkable.

DQ is an elite coach.

We let the wrong coach leave.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Zimm likes the 4-3

Bill wanted 3-4

Zimm competently ran both fronts for Bill so I am not sure what your point is.

 

[noshame]

Zimmer took a lot of his defense from Ryan's 46, and the good news is, we may have the personnel to do it.

 

[Omegasupreme]

I think I understand it. The defense was bad and people wanted someone to blame. Jerry had been giving fans what they wanted spending like a loon in VFA and instead of looking to the awful roster and it's lack of talent, they looked for a scapegoat.

You see people doing the same type of thing today. As much as things change they stay the same.

Agreed but the difference with Zimmer that’s really kind of unique in NFL coaching is that in the pre-Parcells years he was just a decent, not spectacular, defensive position coach and DC. He ran a basic 4-3 and Cover2 and knew basic corrections when his defenses struggled and got drowned in pickle juice.

But then, Parcells forced him to learn the 3-4 which meant paying more attention to a few more details and options that were really not on his cooking menu in prior years. He developed better D-line space manipulation, personnel organization and uses zone blitzes effortlessly (almost like LeBeau who ran a 3-4); he splatters LBs all over the place like a Pollack painting and still emphasizes the corner blitz from the Campo years (Newman loved that role). Parcells, as well as the pickle juice year, caused Zimmer to mandate to “play the run first” (remember how max Marcellus Wiley was was when Parcells made him play the run first?). But Parcells also famously said “I collect LBs” which Zimmer has been doing this year as well.

All that to say Zimmer uniquely had to assimilate a completely different scheme and coaching style from Parcells and whether zeitgeist or influence, he became a sought-after DC and eventually HC.

Zimmer now is much different from Campo Zimmer. Not a good comparison or even a fair one.