Zimmer

[chicagopurple]

you have to blind not to notice that some coaches have a dynamic game plan that changes on the run and some are just stubbornly beating their head against a wall. How many coaches blindly stick to a failing D scheme, or ALWAYS went into Prevent in the last quarter? How about Denny Green ALWAYS reverting to endlessly running up the gut in the red zone in every big game? Leslie Frasier was about as nimble minded as a sloth.

[Purpnation]

Man, I get tired of reading fan comments about adjustments. From what I've seen, most fans base their assessment of "adjustments" on results, not based on any actual, specific adjustments they perceive. If the team starts slow and then rebounds and plays better over the course of a game, the coaches "made adjustments". If they don't rebound from a poor start, or struggle over the course of a game to stop something the opposition continually does successfully, the coaches "didn't adjust".

Every coaching staff in the league makes in-game adjustments. Every one of them. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but trust me, it's happening.

Fantastic post man. Really on point.

[Mothman]

I love Zimmer's comments toward the end of this video:

http://www.startribune.com/video/282182131.html

[Rus]

You know, I'm usually very skeptical about things, especially early on, but I seriously like this coach. I don't remember in MY era, ever liking a coach the vikings have had this much. (which starts mid 80's ish lol). His demeanor, the things he says, his fire. The players are starting to carry his attitude on the field and I think we have something brewing here within a few years.

The thing that stands out to me the most is his coach speak is very limited. He's not afraid to give just enough "call out" on someone who's doing dumb #### and it usually results in that person playing well the next week.

I like Zim a lot too...but generally, I respect honesty and accountability in coaches. A coach that is an "organization guy" more often than not doesn't get the respect of his players. There are some of those types around the league who do well as organization guys, but mostly they have to attain some degree of success and gain respect from the players before they assume that role. Guys like Chilly did not.

You want to think "these are professionals" but most people, even professionals, don't like playing/working for someone that they don't respect. It's not even a conscious thing most of the time when you end up giving less effort...it just happens. You're so demotivated that one day, you think "I'm mailing it in", then that turns into the next day, then the day after that.

Initially, I liked Frazier mostly because he seemed like the anti-Childress at the time. Though sometimes just being seemingly the opposite of bad isn't necessarily good when you're talking about complex personalities.

Norv, however, has really gotten the short end of the stick this year. Anyone who blames Norv isn't paying attention. Compared to the situation he was stepping into, the difference is a complete 180. Honestly, it's somewhat amazing that the offense isn't as bad as the Jags or Titans. They've invested every bit as much into their offenses through the draft and free agency as the Vikings have. The Vikes, without AP, have kept turnovers to a relative minimum (when they don't have to start Ponder) and that's pretty important when your team's identity is strongly leaning towards defense. Almost all of the drama, distractions, and injuries have been to offensive players. The o-line was supposed to be the Vikings strongest unit, and it has been terrible at adapting to the new schemes. It's been absolutely terrible at pass blocking in particular. You can try and blame Bridgewater for it, but you can see the linemen on tape just give up on blocks, get pushed out of position...by linemen that aren't anything special. I wouldn't be surprised if Norv finally retired after this season. What a pain.

[dead_poet]

How Mike Zimmer Has Transformed the Minnesota Vikings Defense

A Zimmer-coached defense puts these four features on display every single week. Speed is the name of the game. It took the Vikings defense a few weeks to internalize the techniques and assignments of the blitz patterns and coverage calls. Once that happened, the mistakes were cut down, and the defense began playing much faster.

The sharp schematics of Zimmer’s defense and the appropriate usage of the talent at Minnesota’s disposal has quickly turned an embarrassing unit into a formidable one. Zimmer is just getting started too.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2264 ... gs-defense

[Mothman]

How Mike Zimmer Has Transformed the Minnesota Vikings Defense
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2264 ... gs-defense

Thanks for the link. There was some interesting analysis there. I don't think the significance of this point can be overstated:

Anthony Barr is the straw that stirs the drink in the way Zimmer organizes plays like this. Because of his uncommon athletic skills, he has the range to cover lots of ground if he drops but also presents a rushing threat that offenses must respect. So even though he’s often a long way from where he needs to get to when dropping, he’s capable of doing it.

A good scheme makes excellent use of that kind of athleticism but it's effectiveness also follows that athleticism. The addition of an elite athlete at LB has really helped transform the defense. It gives Zimmer options he simply wouldn't have with a less gifted player. The article emphasizes what Zimmer has done schematically but I think it's clear that he also had an idea of what kind of personnel he was going to need to get the defense on track. I'm not trying to take anything away from Spielman here but it seems obvious that Zimmer had a big influence on the personnel moves the team made this offseason and without those moves, I don't think we'd be seeing this improvement.

[The Breeze]

Thanks for the link. There was some interesting analysis there. I don't think the significance of this point can be overstated:
A good scheme makes excellent use of that kind of athleticism but it's effectiveness also follows that athleticism. The addition of an elite athlete at LB has really helped transform the defense. It gives Zimmer options he simply wouldn't have with a less gifted player. The article emphasizes what Zimmer has done schematically but I think it's clear that he also had an idea of what kind of personnel he was going to need to get the defense on track. I'm not trying to take anything away from Spielman here but it seems obvious that Zimmer had a big influence on the personnel moves the team made this offseason and without those moves, I don't think we'd be seeing this improvement.

I agree and don't think this can be overstated.
I think it has everything to do with Zimmer being Spielman's guy as per how willing he is to be persuaded by Zimmer too.

Same can be said for Turner....he supposedly banged his first on the table on draft day lobbying for TB.

To me it's important to note that GMs have all kinds of time to study different aspects of prospect potential in regards to the draft and team building, but none of that is any substitute for the subjective experience of coaching. Both Zimmer and Turner know more about football than Spielman does IMHO. I would like to think that factored in to his hiring of them.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Interesting comment about Norv. I thought Rick really wanted JFB, and had convinced Norv too. Who knows, just rumors. But theres no way Norv would have wanted Teddy if he didn't think the kid could throw a deep ball accurately. And Norv knows more about QBs then all of us combined. I question his play calling, but I think I would question any OC we had. He has us with our running game in good shape, Zimmer has this D on its toes. That's an awesome way to start.

[Mothman]

As the cliche goes, the honeymoon is over. I still like Mike Zimmer. I'm still hopeful that he will be very successful with the Vikings but yesterday, against the Bears, he didn't do what fans have been praising him for doing all season: he didn't adjust, at least not sufficiently.

I read this in Jim Souhan's column this morning and it really bugged me:

Zimmer, a renowned defensive coach, chose not to imitate other successful game plans against the Bears. He eschewed playing zone, leaving 5-10 cornerback Josh Robinson playing man-to-man against the Bears’ hulking receivers. “I can’t make these guys taller,’’ Zimmer said.

That's true, but since they can't be made taller, when an opponent is continually exploiting a physical advantage on the outside of the defense, the coaching staff needs to do something to take that advantage away. Zimmer left Robinson on a man-to-man island far too often against the Bears.

There are articles on both the PP and Star Tribune sites today about the height mis-match between Robinson and the Bears big wide receivers. It was obviously one of the big stories of the game and I feel bad for Robinson because he was in good position more often than not. He was just overmatched.

http://www.twincities.com/vikings/ci_26 ... e-mismatch

In Zim's defense, the following is in the Star Tribune article:

“That’s how the Bears operate,” Robinson said. “When they’re winning against a corner, they’re going to keep coming back at him. It’s up to that cornerback to stop that from happening.”

True, but Robinson did appear to have no help from the safeties far too often as the Vikings stuck with the plan to play their man coverages. It also didn’t help that the Vikings got no sacks from the pass rush that entered the game ranked No. 1 in sacks per pass play.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer admitted after the game there were some calls, “I wish I had back.”

“I would have changed up some coverages,” he said. “We did some and then they went to other places. I can’t make these guys taller. So you’ve got to change up the coverage.”

It's good that they changed it up a little but it seemed like they'd change it up and then put Robinson right back on the outside without safety help again, as if they expected a different result. I was able to call out some of those completions to Marshall and Jeffery from the stands, just by looking at pre-snap defensive alignments. If an amateur like me could see those easy opportunities, you know the Bears were aware of them and they repeatedly took advantage of them.

I was very disappointed in the Vikings coaching yesterday. The offense was awful and way too conservative. The defense didn't execute well but they didn't adjust to take away what the Bears were doing most effectively either. I'm still In Zimmer's corner but he, and his team, deserve criticism for yesterday's lackluster performance. The Vikings weren't just out-played, they were out-coached.

[PurpleMustReign]

Great post Jim, and I agree the honeymoon is over. This game was as bad as any from the Childress or Frasier era, and I was hoping we were done with that crap.