What do you think the defense will look like under zimmer?

[Purpnation]

At this point I hope teams fall for him and let a guy like Teddy slide because he didn't throw or run at combine. Watkins and Evans' stock went up too.

Oh hell yea man, if Bridgewater fell to us I'd flip ####! That guy is going to be a BEAST. I don't really know what to say about Bortles, I haven't really seen him play much.

[vikeinmontana]

Don't fall for Bortles. Guy is a one read/stare down his WR machine

well we don't have room for him anyway. we already have one of those guys.

[Eli]

Whatever personnel you have on defense, it is going to be an aggressive defense. You won't be disappointed.

Maybe.

You can only be as aggressive as your personnel will allow. If you don't have linebackers who are quick enough, or skilled enough, to blitz, then you put extra pressure on your secondary to hold coverage. And if you secondary isn't skilled at man to man coverage, then even the quickest blitzing linebackers will be ineffective. If your defensive line isn't getting pressure on the QB in non-blitzing situations, and tying up blockers on the blitzes, then very little of anything will work.

I'm sure Zimmer will want to be as aggressive as possible, but the Vikings have so little talent on defense right now that we'll have to wait and see what he can do. I'm hoping the biggest changes will come in the secondary, with more press and man to man coverage, and more reliance on players doing just what they're coached to do.

[King James]

Don't fall for Bortles. Guy is a one read/stare down his WR machine

One thing I can finally agree with you on.

[SaintCity86]

The highest QB the Vikings have ever taken is Culpepper at 11. Then Ponder, Tommy Kramer at 27 and Fran Tarkenton at 29. Which back then was the third round.

Yeah see. We need to pull the trigger on a first overall qb pick.

We're the only team over 30 years old without a super bowl

It's Cuz of our qbs

You've Just Been Tapatold ♧♢dbombROMv3.4♤♡

My Theme ( Taking Requests )
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[dead_poet]

Robison: "(Zimmer) is actually grabbing guys, showing them what to do. You don't always get that with a HC." Robison on Zimmer's hands-on approach: "You want a head coach who coaches you."

@Andrew_Krammer on Twitter

[Purple bruise]

Yeah see. We need to pull the trigger on a first overall qb pick.

We're the only team over 30 years old without a super bowl

It's Cuz of our qbs

You've Just Been Tapatold ♧♢dbombROMv3.4♤♡

My Theme ( Taking Requests )
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I do not think that the Lions or Cleveland have been to a Super Bowl.

[Mothman]

I do not think that the Lions or Cleveland have been to a Super Bowl.

That's correct.

The Bengals, Bills, Eagles, Cardinals, Falcons, Chargers and Titans (formerly Oilers) are all without Super Bowl wins as well, although, like the Vikes, those teams have been to the Super Bowl.

[headless_norseman]

By mid season I think we will be seeing noticable progress from our defense.

[Texas Vike]

Thought this would be a good addition to this thread. Greenway and the Strib writers converse on how the new D will differ from its previous iteration.

Man, I hadn't realized just how bad our D was last year:

We came up with nine reasons that could explain why Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway sounded so excited about his team’s decision to play a more aggressive style of defense in 2014.
Each involves where the Vikings’ defense ranked defensively a year ago. Here goes:
. Touchdown passes per game: 2.3, last.
. First downs passing per game: 15.4, last.
. Completions allowed per game: 26.2, last.
. Points allowed per game: 30.0, last.
. Opponents’ time of possession: 33:18, 31st.
. Passing yards allowed per game: 287.2, 31st.
. Opponents’ third-down percentage: 44, 30th.
. Opponents’ passer rating: 98.7, 30th.
. Opponents’ first-down completion percentage: 67.1, 29th.
. Blown saves in the final minute of regulation: 5, pretty darn sure no one topped that one.

More at link.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... 78841.html

[Mothman]

Thought this would be a good addition to this thread. Greenway and the Strib writers converse on how the new D will differ from its previous iteration.

Man, I hadn't realized just how bad our D was last year

Yes, there's a good reason the Vikings have made so many personnel moves on defense this offseason. I imagine those numbers factored into the decision to hire Zimmer too.

Thanks for the link. I'm excited to see what Zimmer will have the Vikes doing on defense.

[S197]

An interesting coincidence.

Floyd, similar to Rhodes, is a candidate to improve considerably in Zimmer’s defensive scheme. He presumably would be placed adjacent to the newly signed and exceedingly talented Linval Joseph on the Vikings’ defensive line, forming a very athletic 628-pound barrier. Six-hundred and twenty-eight pounds not only is a heavy load for smaller offensive lineman to fend off, but also is the exact combined weight total of Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, the Vikings’ lethal defensive tackle combination from nearly a decade ago. Defensive tackles who combine both size and athleticism have historically had a lot of success in Zimmer’s defensive scheme.

http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2014/04/2 ... onumental/

[Eli]

Kevin Williams was around 315 lbs. Big Pat was about 340 on a light day.

Floyd and Rhodes had better improve considerably, especially Rhodes, who the Vikings are counting on in a big way.

[mondry]

Having a legit nose tackle on this defense is going to do wonders. I would even say it's been the biggest hole on defense this entire time. Now sure some of you will say "but mondry, we haven't had any linebackers or anyone to play next to harrison smith and chris cook was a starter." That's all 100% correct but in a cover 2 "we only want to rush with the front 4" defense of Frazier's your front 4 better be tops in the league to have any kind of success at all. Once the front 4 can't get pressure the cover 2 is done for and all of your zones weaken dramatically on the back end when you have to blitz to get pressure.

Evans and Guion did little at the position and a real NT needs to eat up multiple blockers both in the run game to free up the LB's so they can fill the gaps AND in the pass game to free up his fellow lineman with 1 on 1 matchups. If the offense doesn't want to face your ends / 3 technique 1 on 1 then they'll need to leave a TE or RB, sometimes both, to chip or stay in and block and guess what that means, one less receiving threat down the field to worry about.

I think instead of playing so much zone we'll play more man to man. What that means is we will probably put Barr on the RB or TE. Two things are likely to happen and it has a lot to do with what I just talked about. If our front 4 is getting good pressure, the RB or a TE might stay in to block. Barr will basically shadow the RB or TE in that case, if he stays in to block, then Barr becomes a pass rusher as his man in coverage already committed to blocking and he's free to rush the passer. If the back or TE releases then he'll follow him into coverage like normal and it's up to our front 4 or even a blitz from somewhere else to create pressure. On the flipside, Barr himself could still be blitzed as long as someone else on the backend can account for his coverage assignment.

Pressure will be the name of the game and this defense is young and athletic so FAST comes to mind. I'm sure Zimmer will want us flying to the ball, swarming, and aggressive are all things that come to mind. For better or for worse, picture Fraziers defense bending and breaking and then think of the exact opposite, you're probably closer to Zimmer D.

[Eli]

I think it's a bit too easy to reminisce about the success that PWill and KWill had together. A nose tackle is not a necessity in a 4-3 defensive line. Especially in today's NFL, where pass rushing is king.