Zimmer explains not doing things his way at start of season

[Risen Star]

Cowboys DC Mike Zimmer yesterday during his final news conference of the season:

"I wish that when I came in that I would have done everything the way I wanted it done and not kind of tried to blend things. I think that was part of the struggles at the beginning. What I'm most proud about is watching the guys, how they've improved. … There is still a lot more we could have done better. I think a lot of it was that, so we had to work through a whole bunch of different scenarios to get to where I feel like (we got to) the vision that I had."

"... I was just doing things I was uncomfortable with, so I had to do what I had to do. I've said it to some of the coaches, you come in and here was the situation: They were good last year, right? So I come in and I don't want to really rock the boat. I probably wasn't as tough as I typically am. I probably wasn't as hard-headed about how I want to do things, I guess is the best way to say it. I wasn't. That's what I regret the most."

 

[Risen Star]

So he talked himself into not doing things his way.

Not sure I buy that but maybe.

 

[Carson]

I like to talk around in circles

 

[maryquality]

I'm thinking it's his way of not throwing Jerry or McCarthy under the bus.

 

[Tangle_Foot]

A coach not doing things his way in Dallas, what a surprise

When you do, the owner runs you out of town

 

[links18]

So he talked himself into not doing things his way.

Not sure I buy that but maybe.

Jerry has him so scrambled; he actually thinks it was his idea not to follow his own instincts. Good to know Jerry doesn't just gaslight the fans, but uses the same techniques on his own staff too.

 

[acr731]

I'm thinking it's his way of not throwing Jerry or McCarthy under the bus.

Yep, exactly what I was thinking. But I'm leaning more towards Jerry being the culprit

 

[Hoofbite]

These are the lessons you learn only after coaching for 45 years. Now that he’s got this figured out, he can lead the defense to pure dominance.

 

[tm1119]

While I’d love to blame Jerry for almost anything…I don’t think Jerry is capable of putting together enough complete sentences about defensive strategy to really influence anything. Unless he specifically told Zimmer “don’t make any changes”, I’m not sure how much harm he could do.

Sounds more like a coaching staff issue. Maybe Big Mike was a little too controlling. Also probably didn’t help to have a well liked hold over from the last staff like Al Harris there. And I’m not blaming Harris, I like him, but it’s definitely not normal for the assistant D coordinator to not be picked by the actual D coordinator

 

[cowboyec]

i like zimm.
i think he's tellin' the truth.
but probably being reserved about more on the chance he may have another return here as the def coord.

 

[CowboysRule]

Zimmer and Quinn are polar opposites. Quinn is very aggressive on defense. Get a lead and rush the passer, force sacks and get turnovers. Zimmer is more of a bend-but-don't-break style. Force the offense to go on long drives and hope they make a mistake at some point you can take advantage of. I think Zimmer tried to stick more with what Quinn was doing and run that style, that's what he's saying. His style may be better suited to this team since we have very rarely had leads. But I don't think his style works long-term. The NFL is so offense-friendly at this point that usually if they do make that crucial mistake there is a flag there to bail them out. Add to the fact that we weren't just bending but also breaking and it's just bad all around.

 

[fivetwos]

I'm thinking it's his way of not throwing Jerry or McCarthy under the bus.

Or pulling them out from under it. Tough to say.

Aside from that I find it sinful that it’s now customary for every team to throwaway the pre-season and essentially use September for that purpose…yet don’t cancel the August games entirely because they want the revenue.

Especially for teams trying to implement a new system. Seems as if one way or another we will be on our third defensive system in three years next year.

Would probably be a little less difficult if Coach Jerry had a consistent plan/philosophy as opposed to being all over the map.

 

[gimmesix]

So he talked himself into not doing things his way.

Not sure I buy that but maybe.

He said early on that he was going to try to keep aspects of what Quinn was doing. I think that's what he regrets, trying to smooth the transition instead of just wholeheartedly implementing his own system.

 

[Chasing6]

So he talked himself into not doing things his way.

Not sure I buy that but maybe.

Seems like he is back tracking to cover GM Jethro.

 

[Wilson]

He said early on that he was going to try to keep aspects of what Quinn was doing. I think that's what he regrets, trying to smooth the transition instead of just wholeheartedly implementing his own system.

He didn't have the personnel. The talent is built around Quinn's approach to defense. They allowed him bottom-of-the-barrel defensive line replacements by not being aggressive in free agency.

 

[Chasing6]

He didn't have the personnel. The talent is built around Quinn's approach to defense. They allowed him bottom-of-the-barrel defensive line replacements by not being aggressive in free agency.

Our weakness last year was the DT position. So what did we do, we let it get worse.

 

[Risen Star]

Our weakness last year was the DT position. So what did we do, we let it get worse.

You don't understand. They think they're stacked.

 

[Chasing6]

You don't understand. They think they're stacked.

Jerry thinks the NFL is a 7 on 7 passing league.

 

[Wilson]

Our weakness last year was the DT position. So what did we do, we let it get worse.

Yep, a lot of the glue that was holding it together left. He never made a real effort to replace it and improve upon it.

 

[iceberg]

well that's playing spin the turd.