12-24-2019, 10:43 PM
Quote: @"greediron" said:
It's in line with what he said about the defense. Towards the 3rd and 4th quarters, players lag because they wear down if they are on the field too long. Pretty soon they're a half-step behind where they're supposed to be.@"Clanzomaelan" said:
I was in Nashville this last weekend on a mystery trip, and my Wife and the couple we were with ended up bar hopping (is it still call that if you're nearly 46?) with a former NFL LB who played 10 years in the league (Seattle, and New Orleans). I'd like to keep his name quiet, but he was a great guy, and his Wife was awesome. The subject of Zim came up. I asked him why we can looks so flat and uninspired compared to some teams.
His response:
"Your coach is a scientist. More like a chess player. His entire defense is predicated on bodies being where they are supposed to be, and moving at a speed of x, and arriving at time y. They get very scientific about it, and people need to be in the exact right spot for the defense to work.
Schemes are broken when a defender isn't exactly where they're supposed to be (ie: he trips, just gets beat, or they start playing a bit slower in the 3rd and 4th). Think of how often breaks in scheme happen after those big boys have been leaning on you and the secondary has been running track all day."
He also said, "Schemes can be outplayed, or out-schemed. When your team comes out flat, but it's close, you were probably outplayed. If you come out flat, and it isn't close... you were out-schemed. Things break, and they need to stick to their script."
He had a bunch more insights, but anything more would be a thread hijack. Interesting. And listening to Zimmer talking today, it sounds like the offense got outschemed and the defense got outplayed in the end.