SkinsHokieFan;3184002 said:
I remember the GROZ
I also remember the D switching from a 4-3 in 2003 (when your D was pretty good and fast) to a 3-4 by 2005. There were some bumps in that transition period
The defense had always been a 4-3 scheme until 2005. That's right, since its inception, the Cowboys played a 4-3 scheme until 2005 as Landry invented the 4-3 scheme.
Dallas' defense in 2004 was horrid and still ran a 4-3 scheme with 4-3 personnel. While Parcells was always a 3-4 scheme guy, we changed to the 3-4 because the 2004 defense was so bad and Jerry was sick and tired of not getting sacks on the QB. When we did that, the sacks improved slightly, but Zimmer's defenses continued to struggle down the stretch, particularly with sacking the QB (and Cincy's defense is struggling to sack the QB down the stretch this year).
We didn't bring Zimmer back because in 2006 he couldn't figure out how to get the defense to cover tailbacks and fullbacks and had his playcalling taken away from him for a game.
In one season under Wade, Dallas went from being a team that struggled for 7 seasons to sack the QB to a team that was 3rd in sacks. Then in 2008 they led the league in sacks.
When Zimmer came to Atlanta he had an interview on local Atlanta sports radio and when asked about his defensive philosophy he said to the effect that 'if you want to improve your defense statistically you stop the pass because if you can allow an offense to throw for 200 yards instead of 300 yards, that will make you look better statistically. But I want my defenses, first and foremost, to stop the run.'
I just think that getting somebody like Zimmer is a good thing for the Cowboys because the Skins will undoubtedly sack the QB less and a guy like Orakpo will be less effective. And I think it would be typical of the Skins to hire Zimmer and get rid of Blache because they don't like Blache's scheme when Zimmer runs pretty much the same scheme.
YAKUZA