What Changes Will Zimmer Make Over the Bye Week?

[Guest]

@1VikesFan said:
Don't they have a QB on the practice squad? Might want to elevate him.

I think they have two: Stanley and Browning. 

They look horrible and are 1-5. Nothing should be off the table the remainder of the year.

[Guest]

@Skodin said:

what are we going to adjust?   Making a personnel change?  Where?  QB?  To Sean Mannion?  

This is exactly right. They can tinker here or there, but there is no magic bullet for what ails them. 

KC aside, the deck was stacked against em:

• They had to go young in a covid year
• They must have expected better play from OG's and arent getting it 
• They've lost 50% of their starting DL and their best player on the team in DH
• No TC, OTA 
• They lost Barr
• They've pretty much lost Hughes

It is what it is now...

[Guest]

My responses below in bold...

@purplefaithful said:

• They had to go young in a covid year. Fair, I give them that. However, they are still behind the Jaguars, Dolphins, Rams, Browns (new coach), Packers in the youth movement (I understand it's an average)
• They must have expected better play from OG's and arent getting it. I'snt that due to bad evaluation/coaching/poor projection?
• They've lost 50% of their starting DL and their best player on the team in DH. OK. But they pretty much got the entire offense intact and added JJ. Something could be said that better offensive play would have given them wins against Titans and Seattle. This got nothing to do with defense.
• No TC, OTA. Every team had this problem 
• They lost Barr. Almost all teams lost a key player or two. All teams adjust to missing players.
• They've pretty much lost Hughes. See point above. Did you watch SF yesterday? How many players have they lost so far?

[Guest]

@purplefaithful said:

@Skodin said:

what are we going to adjust?   Making a personnel change?  Where?  QB?  To Sean Mannion?  

This is exactly right. They can tinker here or there, but there is no magic bullet for what ails them. 

KC aside, the deck was stacked against em:

• They had to go young in a covid year
• They must have expected better play from OG's and arent getting it 
• They've lost 50% of their starting DL and their best player on the team in DH
• No TC, OTA 
• They lost Barr
• They've pretty much lost Hughes

It is what it is now...

This is the rationale ownership will disseminate through the purple p.r. machine next off-season.  More years of mediocrity await the fan base...many more.

[Guest]

He should pack his bags

[Guest]

The only way Zimmer can be successful with the style of offense he wants to run is to have an elite defense. Tampa Bay showed that yesterday against the Packers. Once they took Rodgers out of the game plan, they had no answers. Very few teams have that kind of dominating Pass Rush that can neutralize an All World QB like AR. That ship has sailed for the Vikings and Zimmer. It will take years to rebuild the defense into what it used to be, and with the current rules that favor offense, why would you take that approach? Zimmer and Kubiak are Old School Dinosaurs that won't adapt to the wide open offensive attacks we are seeing around the league. Anybody can see that we like to run on first down, and run playaction on 2nd down. I believe Ben Lieber said yesterday we have the worst 2nd down yards gained percentage in the league which puts that much more pressure on Cousins to execute on 3rd and long. He also is constantly checking down on 3rd and long and expecting his receivers to get enough YAC for the first down which is why we have so many 3 and outs. He definitely doesn't trust the protection and it shows big time. I don't blame him since our line is absolute trash in pass protection.   

[Guest]

Address?

[Guest]

@TBro said:
It will take years to rebuild the defense into what it used to be, and with the current rules that favor offense, why would you take that approach?   

Yes, Zimmer's defensive success has been dependent on complicated assignments and schemes that players don't understand quickly. Every CB he brought in, including veteran Captain Munnerlyn, struggled at first. But not everyone in the NFL needs to groom a core of defensive players for 3 years to get improvement - quick turnaround is expected, and it's arguably necessary in a league where players can leave in 4 years and need to contribute quickly. It seems like Zimmer did best when he could groom each player for a few years and expect to keep them on the team for their career and not worry about salary cap losses.
I also don't think his approach of, "I'm going to trick you with my amazing coverage or rush scheme" is as effective when offensive players, including QBs, are often so athletically dominant, and OCs and their staff are analyzing coverage patterns from the press box with computer models.

[Guest]

 Zimmer should use the season to develop and train young talent on this Roster and tell Spielman to figure out a way to move up for whatever young QB they want.  Keep getting better keep getting younger and find out what you have on this roster that will set this team up for a run in two years this season is done.  If we were in the NFC east maybe try to salvage it.