Ode...

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Maroon, I have to disagree with you slightly about your shutdown Corner angle. Mike had good, but never great CBs in Cincinnati. What he did have was 4 D-Linemen capable of rushing the passer plus depth to rotate. When he got here I think Rhodes and Harry being elite allowed him to do more things scheme-wise that he can't with either of them now and that's hurting him too.

I agree with your point about vanilla. I see this game a lot like the Denver game in fact. I do think that's what he'll do. It's just not what *I* would do. And his voice mailbox is full. Damn Parcells. 

Like most coaches, Zimmer does what his talent on defense dictates. Moving to Minnesota and finding an emerging talent like Rhodes allowed him to shape the defense into what we've seen the last few years. Shutdown corner, AA blitzes, safeties wreaking havoc at the line of scrimmage, top 5 defense three years in a row.

The bold sentence is exactly what I've been saying. If you shape a defense around a strength that goes away, you're in big trouble. It forces you to make some crazy changes. 

there are plenty of defenses playing better than ours without top shelf talent.  This is where Zim needs to earn his extension,  I dont care about the record or if he limps into a wild card spot.  He has been here 7 years and has been a soso game day HC,   and has refused to turn over his D to a coordinator to get better at his HC responsibilities.  If he cant get more out of this defense than what we have been seeing I think it will be time to move on to somebody that doesnt  need 100+ million in contracts and a bunch of 1st rounders to shut down opposing offenses.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Maroon, I have to disagree with you slightly about your shutdown Corner angle. Mike had good, but never great CBs in Cincinnati. What he did have was 4 D-Linemen capable of rushing the passer plus depth to rotate. When he got here I think Rhodes and Harry being elite allowed him to do more things scheme-wise that he can't with either of them now and that's hurting him too.

I agree with your point about vanilla. I see this game a lot like the Denver game in fact. I do think that's what he'll do. It's just not what *I* would do. And his voice mailbox is full. Damn Parcells. 

Like most coaches, Zimmer does what his talent on defense dictates. Moving to Minnesota and finding an emerging talent like Rhodes allowed him to shape the defense into what we've seen the last few years. Shutdown corner, AA blitzes, safeties wreaking havoc at the line of scrimmage, top 5 defense three years in a row.

The bold sentence is exactly what I've been saying. If you shape a defense around a strength that goes away, you're in big trouble. It forces you to make some crazy changes. 

there are plenty of defenses playing better than ours without top shelf talent.  This is where Zim needs to earn his extension,  I dont care about the record or if he limps into a wild card spot.  He has been here 7 years and has been a soso game day HC,   and has refused to turn over his D to a coordinator to get better at his HC responsibilities.  If he cant get more out of this defense than what we have been seeing I think it will be time to move on to somebody that doesnt  need 100+ million in contracts and a bunch of 1st rounders to shut down opposing offenses.

Undecided and need to see more. Who was it? Atlanta I think? Whose coach gave up defensive calls to one of his assistants and the defense exploded. Maybe it's time for Zimmer to take a more holistic role. I've always seen Zimmer as more of a defensive scheme and philosophy guy anyway, rather than a great game-day decision maker. 

@"Wetlander" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"FSUVike" said: Maroon, I have to disagree with you slightly about your shutdown Corner angle. Mike had good, but never great CBs in Cincinnati. What he did have was 4 D-Linemen capable of rushing the passer plus depth to rotate. When he got here I think Rhodes and Harry being elite allowed him to do more things scheme-wise that he can't with either of them now and that's hurting him too.

I agree with your point about vanilla. I see this game a lot like the Denver game in fact. I do think that's what he'll do. It's just not what *I* would do. And his voice mailbox is full. Damn Parcells. 

Like most coaches, Zimmer does what his talent on defense dictates. Moving to Minnesota and finding an emerging talent like Rhodes allowed him to shape the defense into what we've seen the last few years. Shutdown corner, AA blitzes, safeties wreaking havoc at the line of scrimmage, top 5 defense three years in a row.

The bold sentence is exactly what I've been saying. If you shape a defense around a strength that goes away, you're in big trouble. It forces you to make some crazy changes. 

there are plenty of defenses playing better than ours without top shelf talent.  This is where Zim needs to earn his extension,  I dont care about the record or if he limps into a wild card spot.  He has been here 7 years and has been a soso game day HC,   and has refused to turn over his D to a coordinator to get better at his HC responsibilities.  If he cant get more out of this defense than what we have been seeing I think it will be time to move on to somebody that doesnt  need 100+ million in contracts and a bunch of 1st rounders to shut down opposing offenses.

Undecided and need to see more. Who was it? Atlanta I think? Whose coach gave up defensive calls to one of his assistants and the defense exploded. Maybe it's time for Zimmer to take a more holistic role. I've always seen Zimmer as more of a defensive scheme and philosophy guy anyway, rather than a great game-day decision maker. 

It might worth exploring letting Edwards call the defense.  He did it once a couple years ago when Zimmer missed a game with his eye injury.  If I recall correctly, it was against Dallas and the defense had a good showing against a pretty good Cowboys offense.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"purplefaithful" said: Man, just when the offense starts to roll too- the D starts to swirl the other way...

I mentioned in another thread, Zimsu is going to have to take this off-season and really evaluate scheme, players and coaches...Including whether his role in the D needs to evolve in coming seasons??

Like I've said, watching this team is like playing Whack-a-mole. But my goodness, SO much would be different with one simple change: Rhodes playing like he did two years ago. At 29, age really should not be a factor there. 

This whole defense is built around the notion of having a shut down corner on one side. With that no longer the case, it all falls apart. Everything. So do you fix the corner and keep the scheme? Shut down corners are not easy to find. Or change the defense to allow for lesser corners? Didn't we go to a cover-two in Seattle? That says a lot.