Zimmer on some key issues...
On front-office assurances the Vikings will be able to keep their defense together after laying out $84 million guaranteed to Cousins:
I did mention that a lot of times to those guys. But sometimes I said that to the media just so you’d think we’re going in a different direction as well. That wasn’t lying. I still feel that way. This was the decision we thought was best.
On former defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd saying Zimmer defamed him with malingering comments after he suffered a 2016 knee injury, which led to botched surgery that caused career-threatening nerve damage and a grievance against the Vikings:
I suppose I say a lot of things about players during the season. But I had a good relationship with Sharrif, like I did with all the players. I haven’t seen him in two years, maybe? It was a long time before we figured it out.
On reconciling a great regular-season defense with yielding 55 points in final five postseason quarters.
Honestly, I don’t look at it the way everyone else is saying that. The Philadelphia game, we didn’t play good. New Orleans, we played good. We played against a great offensive football team. It was 17-0 late in the third quarter. We throw an interception. We get a punt blocked. We’re playing a hall of fame quarterback (Drew Brees). That game they came back and played good and made some plays on us.
The last four games of the year we didn’t rush as good as we had the entire season. (Everson Griffen) was dealing with his plantar fasciitis. We were probably playing Tom Johnson too many plays. He probably ran out of a little bit of gas. I think it was the end stretch there, the last quarter of the season, where I think we should have rotated players a little more. I didn’t do a good job with them. That’s another lesson learned.
On wanting to protect his defensive line more in 2018:
Yeah, I hope so. When the game’s on the line, you’ve got to play your best guys. I don’t want to be taking our best players out and have them not in there to win the game. We stayed fairly healthy, which was significant. Seventy-two (total quarters in the season) and we’re talking about five quarters. I have to look at the entirety of the season. The Philadelphia game, none of us played well. But the New Orleans game we played well. They just made plays.
On whether reserve cornerback Terence Newman, who turns 40 in September, will return and if it will come down to his salary demands:
It’s a little bit of that. I talked to Terence about a week ago. We’ll just see where he’s at and what he wants to do. I think he’s still thinking about it.
On starting over in 2018:
I think it really is completely fresh. Kirk is our guy. Hopefully, we can continue to do some of the things we did last year. We were good on defense most of the time. We have a good football team. We have a great organization, great owners. If we can just try to keep getting a little bit better every day, maybe we can finally get over that last game that we didn’t get done last year. I wish we could start out at 13-3 with a bye in the first round but it doesn’t happen. You have injuries. You have all type of different things that go on throughout the season. We’re going to have to manage it when it does.
On new defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson:
The 3-technique is a very important position for us. He’s a guy that gets a lot of one-on-one matchups with guards. I think it will help our two defensive ends when those tackles can’t sit in there and those guards can’t sit in there without help. I feel he’s a disruptive guy, and with Andre Patterson, who I think is the best defensive line coach in the NFL, with his expertise and the way we do things defensively, I think (Richardson) can be a big factor for us. He’s got a lot of room to grow. He’s got all the traits. Now we’ve just got to continue to take him to the next level.
On relinquishing play-calling duties to defensive coordinator George Edwards:
I would really like to get away from it at some point, maybe because of the last five quarters (of the playoffs), I should, I guess, I don’t know. But I think it’s something I do well. I don’t want to be a second-guess coach if George calls something — ‘Oh, I hate that call.’ I’ve had that happen in the past. It’s not good. We’ll just see how it goes.
On running back Dalvin Cook’s rehab from an October torn ACL and his prognosis for participating in offseason workouts:
Dalvin is ahead of schedule. I think he’ll be doing some things in OTAs but he won’t be doing everything. He’ll start getting back into football a little bit as we go.
On retaining running back Latavius Murray:
I think it’s good to have two different styles of backs. I think Latavius did a great job coming in. I love talking to him, his demeanor and everything about him. He’s a good short-yardage guy, a good goal-line guy. He had some explosive runs for us after Dalvin left. I thought it was important, after losing Jerick (McKinnon), that we kept another back.
On expectations being sky-high for Vikings in 2018:
Oh, yeah. Expectations will get coaches fired. I don’t have that fear of God in me. I like my football team, and it’s really, really hard to win the Super Bowl. I’ve won it once with a really good football team (defensive backs coach for 1995 Dallas Cowboys). Vikings fans understand because they’ve never won a Super Bowl.
I’m going to preach to them every day, ‘Let’s get better today.’ The Philly game might be a great example. All week long, human nature, everyone’s telling us how great we are, the greatest play ever (to defeat the Saints), and we don’t come off the field forever (celebrating). Now (Stefon) Diggs is a celebrity. We’re not a bunch of celebrity guys. But it’s hard to do. I think our players understand that.
On using humility as motivating tactic:
The first time I have a chance to have a meeting with the players, I’ll talk to them about all those things. You want to say you’re as good as your last game? Ok, let’s put the (Eagles) tape on. This is who we are. This is what we’ve done. It’s how we prepare and go about our business. Usually our team’s pretty good about it.
On whether he will show the team the Philadelphia game tape on Day 1 of offseason workouts:
Hell, no! I don’t want to watch that either.
https://www.twincities.com/2018/03/27/mike-zimmer-on-teddy-bridgewaters-knee-vikings-doctors-saw-a-problem/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
So the sequence of how Viking drives ended in reverse order.
End of game,(1:51) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass short middle
to 19-A.Thielen to DET 45 for 11 yards (27-G.Quin). FUMBLES (27-G.Quin),
RECOVERED by DET-59-T.Whitehead at DET 45. 59-T.Whitehead to 50 for 5
yards (21-J.McKinnon).(2:31) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum sacked at DET 14 for -11 yards (69-A.Zettel).
(2:19) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short left to 19-A.Thielen.
This ended a 6 minute drive with numerous incompletes.(10:51) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short right to 21-J.McKinnon.
3rd Q
(1:00) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete deep left to 89-D.Morgan (35-M.Killebrew).
(:55) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short left to 21-J.McKinnon (24-N.Lawson).
(:50) 2-K.Forbath 39 yard field goal is No Good, Hit Right Upright, Center-47-K.McDermott, Holder-4-R.Quigley.7:17) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short left to 14-S.Diggs.
Yeah, it was a stellar showing that day. 3 of the last 4 drives had Keenum walking off after an incompletion.
@"greediron" said: So the sequence of how Viking drives ended in reverse order.End of game,(1:51) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass short middle
to 19-A.Thielen to DET 45 for 11 yards (27-G.Quin). FUMBLES (27-G.Quin),
RECOVERED by DET-59-T.Whitehead at DET 45. 59-T.Whitehead to 50 for 5
yards (21-J.McKinnon).(2:31) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum sacked at DET 14 for -11 yards (69-A.Zettel).
(2:19) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short left to 19-A.Thielen.
This ended a 6 minute drive with numerous incompletes.(10:51) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short right to 21-J.McKinnon.
3rd Q
(1:00) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete deep left to 89-D.Morgan (35-M.Killebrew).
(:55) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short left to 21-J.McKinnon (24-N.Lawson).
(:50) 2-K.Forbath 39 yard field goal is No Good, Hit Right Upright, Center-47-K.McDermott, Holder-4-R.Quigley.7:17) (Shotgun) 7-C.Keenum pass incomplete short left to 14-S.Diggs.
Yeah, it was a stellar showing that day. 3 of the last 4 drives had Keenum walking off after an incompletion.
Thanks for clearing that up.
I now agree with you, Case is the only reason they lost that day.
"That was Case's 3rd game and he struggled mightily."
Never mined that Detroit score 11 of it's 14 points off of fumbles.
@"holmanjp" said:For you, anytime.Thanks for clearing that up.
@"greediron" said:@"holmanjp" said:Thanks for clearing that up.For you, anytime.
It's so refreshing, It is like a new world. Everything is so obvious now.Ted didn't get his win (that he earned) in the playoffs because BW missed a field goal.
The Vikings didn't get a win (they earned) against Det, because Case could not over come 3 fumbles (11 points) and a missed field
@"holmanjp" said:@"greediron" said:@"holmanjp" said:Thanks for clearing that up.For you, anytime.
It's so refreshing, It is like a new world. Everything is so obvious now.Ted didn't get his win (that he earned) in the playoffs because BW missed a field goal.
The Vikings didn't get a win (they earned) against Det, because Case could not over come 3 fumbles (11 points) and a missed field
project much?Who mentioned Teddy? (you of course) I simply said that Case didn't play well in that game. That ended up being a huge loss for the team. The defense played relatively well, but the offense crapped the bed. Losing Cook really hurt, and he fumbled on that play. Case was still finding his way at that point from being a backup to being the starter. Our offense probably was geared on lots of Cook.
But funny how a simple statement that Case didn't play well brings out so much projection and drama. He didn't play well. The rest of the issues are yours.
@"holmanjp" said:@"greediron" said:@"holmanjp" said:Thanks for clearing that up.For you, anytime.
It's so refreshing, It is like a new world. Everything is so obvious now.Ted didn't get his win (that he earned) in the playoffs because BW missed a field goal.
The Vikings didn't get a win (they earned) against Det, because Case could not over come 3 fumbles (11 points) and a missed field
Some further clarification:BW scored all our points in that game, Ted didn't earn his way into the end zone, not once.
As far as the Det game, the offense looked very lackluster and obviously hadn't gelled with the "new guy" yet....not shocking, he'd had very limited time with the offense.
NOW...there are variables, quality of o-line in the various games, etc etc etc...but as far as what was "earned"...eh...that gets awfully muddy.
@"Zanary" said:@"holmanjp" said:@"greediron" said:@"holmanjp" said:Thanks for clearing that up.For you, anytime.
It's so refreshing, It is like a new world. Everything is so obvious now.Ted didn't get his win (that he earned) in the playoffs because BW missed a field goal.
The Vikings didn't get a win (they earned) against Det, because Case could not over come 3 fumbles (11 points) and a missed field
Some further clarification:BW scored all our points in that game, Ted didn't earn his way into the end zone, not once.
As far as the Det game, the offense looked very lackluster and obviously hadn't gelled with the "new guy" yet....not shocking, he'd had very limited time with the offense.
NOW...there are variables, quality of o-line in the various games, etc etc etc...but as far as what was "earned"...eh...that gets awfully muddy.
hard to blame that on Ted, when he would get the team moving then Norv would give the ball back to AD, Ted moved them down the field for the winning score and they ran AD 3 straight times without giving Ted a shot at the endzone. No reason there wasnt a PA boot off one of those handoffs with Teddy rolling to his right with at least 1 or 2 options to throw into the endzone. People like to say that AD got us there and Blair lost it, but AD was as much of a hindrance to the offense that season as he was a help. (yes I know all about the fact that he won the rushing title ((with the lowest total yardage in the last 20 years due to the other favorites being injured))
@"Zanary" said:@"holmanjp" said:@"greediron" said:@"holmanjp" said:Thanks for clearing that up.For you, anytime.
It's so refreshing, It is like a new world. Everything is so obvious now.Ted didn't get his win (that he earned) in the playoffs because BW missed a field goal.
The Vikings didn't get a win (they earned) against Det, because Case could not over come 3 fumbles (11 points) and a missed field
Some further clarification:BW scored all our points in that game, Ted didn't earn his way into the end zone, not once.
As far as the Det game, the offense looked very lackluster and obviously hadn't gelled with the "new guy" yet....not shocking, he'd had very limited time with the offense.
NOW...there are variables, quality of o-line in the various games, etc etc etc...but as far as what was "earned"...eh...that gets awfully muddy.
I should have added sarcasmYes BW scored the only points that game.
Had BW made that kick.
Ted would still be getting praised for the win.
@"holmanjp" said: Ted would still be getting praised for the win.
And many would be miserable because Ted wasn't their guy.
Teddy's going to be a "what if?" until he either sinks or swims with the Jets...because the scouting reports on him going into 2016 looked so very promising, even though he hadn't proven all that much to that point.
His backers, detractors, and the neutral people can debate him to death...but his body of work in our uniform, at least for now, is done.
IF Teddy came back at the level he was entering 2016 at...IF Sam's knees stayed healthy...IF Case had another chance under center for us...hell, the IFS can be assigned to anyone from Pep to TJack to Ponder to Burt.
However, our expensive-but-high-upside QB acquisition will have everyone analyzing/arguing price/value for the next 3 years, at least.
@"greediron" said:@"holmanjp" said: Ted would still be getting praised for the win.
And many would be miserable because Ted wasn't their guy.
I don't think anyone was miserable, the week before.
When Ted beat the Packers.99 yards 0 TD 1 INT
That was a great win for him.To bad he didnt get to play the Bears and Lions more than twice each.
8 TDs in those 4 games!!!
lol. You may want to check with your doctor if it lasts more than 4 hours.
HAHA it doesn't bother me, you keep stroking it.
I love how you do that little twist trick!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@"greediron" said: lol. You may want to check with your doctor if it lasts more than 4 hours.@"holmanjp" said:
@"greediron" said:
@"holmanjp" said:
Ted would still be getting praised for the win.
And many would be miserable because Ted wasn't their guy.
I don't think anyone was miserable, the week before.
When Ted beat the Packers.99 yards 0 TD 1 INT
That was a great win for him.To bad he didnt get to play the Bears and Lions more than twice each.
8 TDs in those 4 games!!!
You forgot to mention the fumble that Teddy had in that game that AP recovered.@"greediron" said:
lol. You may want to check with your doctor if it lasts more than 4 hours.As much butt hurt as you have had this season you should maybe get checked.
@"Norse" said:@"greediron" said: lol. You may want to check with your doctor if it lasts more than 4 hours.@"holmanjp" said:
@"greediron" said:
@"holmanjp" said:
Ted would still be getting praised for the win.
And many would be miserable because Ted wasn't their guy.
I don't think anyone was miserable, the week before.
When Ted beat the Packers.99 yards 0 TD 1 INT
That was a great win for him.To bad he didnt get to play the Bears and Lions more than twice each.
8 TDs in those 4 games!!!
You forgot to mention the fumble that Teddy had in that game that AP recovered.@"greediron" said:lol. You may want to check with your doctor if it lasts more than 4 hours.
As much butt hurt as you have had this season you should maybe get checked.
you must be projecting as well. Wish ignore would ignore the quoting mentions.
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