Zimmer Thread

[derekshank]

Zimmer Article

So I don't always read all the way through Hobson's stuff, but I wanted to hear some news on Zimmer.

I work with a guy who is a huge Cowboys fan and he knows football really well too (he used to coach high-school). I asked him what he thought of Zimmer while he was in Dallas, and he said that was what he missed most about Parcells. He absolutely loved Zimmer's scheme. He knows the Bengals defense is awful... but he likes Zimmer enough that he thought it could make a difference. Just a little tidbit to add some optimism to a board that probably already has too much.

[HoosierCat]

What caught my eye was the throwaway line near the end: "Sound familiar?"

Yeah, Geoff, it does. It sounds like a guy we used to have at DC named Frazier. The guy who took the defense from 32nd in points in 2002 to 21st in 2004 -- and got fired for it.

More blitzing? Check.

More man-to-man? Check.

Matching abilities to positions? Check.

The defense will probably give up more big plays, just like it did under Leslie, but hopefully we see far fewer of the clock-eating drives assisted by the bend-but-don't-break philosophy.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

What caught my eye was the throwaway line near the end: "Sound familiar?"

Yeah, Geoff, it does. It sounds like a guy we used to have at DC named Frazier. The guy who took the defense from 32nd in points in 2002 to 21st in 2004 -- and got fired for it.

More blitzing? Check.

More man-to-man? Check.

Matching abilities to positions? Check.

The defense will probably give up more big plays, just like it did under Leslie, but hopefully we see far fewer of the clock-eating drives assisted by the bend-but-don't-break philosophy.

+1. I've never understood the "bend-but-don't-break" philosophy when you don't have a defense that can pull it off. If you don't have the personnel for it, it just becomes a "bend-for-8 minutes-then-break" defense that just wears players out.

The retarded thing is that, in one of the Baltimore games early last year Chuck brought tons of blitzes, it worked, they won, then he shelved that strategy for some reason that completely escapes me.

My hop is that Zimmer's been around enough that Marvin respects him - and possibly that his hiring is a realization by Marvin that running the '00 Ravens schemes doesn't work when you don't have vintage Lewis, McCreary, Adams, Siragusa, etc.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

The other think Chuckie's conservative "keep 'em in front of you" scheme did was put too much pressure on the offense - I continually noted on quite a few Sundays that the offense wasn't getting enough drives during games.

Palmer literally had to be perfect all the time in order generate points or win, and when the defense didn't get a turnover, the offense would rot on the bench for almost entire quarters. Then you'd see Chad pouting off the field because he knew he wouldn't get many more chances to come up big the rest of the day - if any.

Some times it's just better to give up the points and give your offense enough time and snaps to score and keep up, even if they go 3 and out, if the defense only gives up a FG - fine - as long as it's not an epic 5, 7 or 10 minute drive. Pretty basic stuff.

Controlling the ball and the clock, and not turning it over, is what it always comes down to.

It's like telling Palmer before every game he has 5 drives per game and he'll need to score TD's on 4 of them to win every week. That's just too much pressure for any team to live up to - ecspecially this one. At times last year, too often, that literally was the case.

[Ickey44]

Wow, I actually agree with something you said.

[jonf45uk]

i find it strange that they don't see Ndukwe as a starter??

jon

[kevinc1129]

i find it strange that they don't see Ndukwe as a starter??

jon

I thought was weird also, especially considering how he played last season.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

i find it strange that they don't see Ndukwe as a starter??

jon

I thought was weird also, especially considering how he played last season.

I think it's politics. Could be he needs the vets to buy in so Dexter's the official 'starter', but Dookie is like one of those NBA 6th men who plays 35 minutes a game.

For what it's worth, none of the major sites (ESPN, CBS, NFL.com, Yahoo, SportingNews, or Fox Sports) has Dexter as the starter over Nudkwe. All of them have Dookie as one of the safeties, with a split over Marvin White or Dexter as the other. Which highlights another concern at S, namely who's FS and who's SS?

[derekshank]

i find it strange that they don't see Ndukwe as a starter??

jon

I thought was weird also, especially considering how he played last season.

I think it's politics. Could be he needs the vets to buy in so Dexter's the official 'starter', but Dookie is like one of those NBA 6th men who plays 35 minutes a game.

For what it's worth, none of the major sites (ESPN, CBS, NFL.com, Yahoo, SportingNews, or Fox Sports) has Dexter as the starter over Nudkwe. All of them have Dookie as one of the safeties, with a split over Marvin White or Dexter as the other. Which highlights another concern at S, namely who's FS and who's SS?

I feel like Marvin White is the FS. But the nice thing about having White as the FS is that he is known as a very hard hitter. Like a Bob Sanders. Coverage skills... but can still intimidate WR's.

Besides Dexter always gets hurt and has to miss a few games. It's nice to have 3 starting quality safeties for two spots. That's the first time Bengal fans have been able to say that in a long time. I really do like the secondary for this team. It's the D-Line and LB's that concern me.

[jonf45uk]

i find it strange that they don't see Ndukwe as a starter??

jon

I thought was weird also, especially considering how he played last season.

I think it's politics. Could be he needs the vets to buy in so Dexter's the official 'starter', but Dookie is like one of those NBA 6th men who plays 35 minutes a game.

For what it's worth, none of the major sites (ESPN, CBS, NFL.com, Yahoo, SportingNews, or Fox Sports) has Dexter as the starter over Nudkwe. All of them have Dookie as one of the safeties, with a split over Marvin White or Dexter as the other. Which highlights another concern at S, namely who's FS and who's SS?

I feel like Marvin White is the FS. But the nice thing about having White as the FS is that he is known as a very hard hitter. Like a Bob Sanders. Coverage skills... but can still intimidate WR's.

Besides Dexter always gets hurt and has to miss a few games. It's nice to have 3 starting quality safeties for two spots. That's the first time Bengal fans have been able to say that in a long time. I really do like the secondary for this team. It's the D-Line and LB's that concern me.

i think it has to be White and Ndukwe, with Jackson as a sort of "father figure" to a very young and inexperienced unit

[redsbengalsbucks]

i find it strange that they don't see Ndukwe as a starter??

jon

I thought was weird also, especially considering how he played last season.

I think it's politics. Could be he needs the vets to buy in so Dexter's the official 'starter', but Dookie is like one of those NBA 6th men who plays 35 minutes a game.

For what it's worth, none of the major sites (ESPN, CBS, NFL.com, Yahoo, SportingNews, or Fox Sports) has Dexter as the starter over Nudkwe. All of them have Dookie as one of the safeties, with a split over Marvin White or Dexter as the other. Which highlights another concern at S, namely who's FS and who's SS?

I feel like Marvin White is the FS. But the nice thing about having White as the FS is that he is known as a very hard hitter. Like a Bob Sanders. Coverage skills... but can still intimidate WR's.

Besides Dexter always gets hurt and has to miss a few games. It's nice to have 3 starting quality safeties for two spots. That's the first time Bengal fans have been able to say that in a long time. I really do like the secondary for this team. It's the D-Line and LB's that concern me.

i think it has to be White and Ndukwe, with Jackson as a sort of "father figure" to a very young and inexperienced unit

I would much rather they use all three, plus kyries (the mad canadian) and keep them all fresh and healthy, rotate the starters for each game so nobody gets thier fragile egos bruised.

[DesperateDerelict]

....namely who's FS and who's SS?

Marvin has always strived to have safeties that can play either position equally well, and are more interchangeable - like RCB & LCB. I don't think he's ever been successful at this, even with Reed in Baltimore or Taylor in Washington, but thats what he's been aiming for. Had Madieu either been bigger or stayed healthy he'd be halfway there.