Mike Zimmer is the new man calling plays for the Dallas Cowboys defense in 2024.
I feel as if this hasn’t been talked about nearly enough, I don’t agree with a lot of things Jerry Jones does, but I like this hire.
Zimmer has been around the game of football for a number of years, he even once called the plays on defense for Dallas back in the early 2000s.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy and DC Mike Zimmer will participate in prospect interviews at combine virtually from the team facility. They won’t travel to Indianapolis. Defense is considered to be today where offense was at this stage in 2023 offseason. Work to do at headquarters.
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) February 23, 2024
He’s Here To Coach
It may sound funny, but Mike Zimmer is a coach first.
A difference between him and Dan Quinn is that Quinn was known to want to be your friend first.
He was a good coach in his own right but cared more about being your buddy than your coach. That will change with Zimmer.
Around 10 days ago, Mike Zimmer talked about that exact thing.
“The ones that wanna be great, they wanna be coached,” Zimmer said.
“The ones that wanna be great, they wanna be coached.”
— Mike Zimmer on his approach to coaching players
FYI: He’s coached a list of legendary and notable #Cowboys players, so there’s no grain of salt to take with that.
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) February 14, 2024
I loved when Dallas brought Dan Quinn back last year, I think it was a move that would benefit them, yet like the offense, struggled against above-average football teams.
Fresh Start
Appearing on the Stephen A. Smith Show, Micah Parsons touched on his excitement to play under a no-nonsense coach like Zimmer.
Zimmer isn’t here to be your friend. Cowboys great Darren Woodson even warned players that Zimmer might rub them the wrong way at first.
Greg Ellis is confirmed as joining the #Cowboys and Mike Zimmer as assistant defensive line coach.
Another reunion in Dallas.
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) February 16, 2024
This is the type of change this team needs. Someone who is going to hold these players accountable.
Not just praise them when they do well against lesser opponents.
I love Micah Parsons as a Dallas Cowboy, but man I wish he would stop talking so much!
He is on track to be one of the greatest defenders of all time, and he cares more about being in the media than anything it seems right now.
Type Of Defense
Zimmer has run a 4-3 defense for the majority of his career but was the defense coordinator under Bill Parcells and ran a 3-4 scheme, so he has shown versatility.
Zimmer had proven over the years that his defense works and Dallas has more talent than any of his teams he had when he was the Vikings head coach.
The Vikings’ defense was top-12 in points allowed in each of Zimmer’s first six seasons with the team, including a top-five finish in 2015, ’17, and ’19.
https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1758181038595920019?s=46&t=O16VseWpcsQwpe8Ben3Qkw
Numbers don’t lie.
This team needs to figure out a way to be more physically at the line of scrimmage, teams hammers them running it right at them.
Dan Quinn had absolutely no answer for it and it ultimately was a reason why the Packers sent them off in the playoffs.
We won’t see as many splash plays on defense as we did the last couple of years with Quinn,
The reason is that Zimmer just likes to keep you out of the end zone and make offenses work.
He’s going to sit back and make them think about how to attack them, and doing so should result in a lot of punts.
I just want to be able to watch this team and have confidence that they can get a stop when needed, get a score when needed, and be disciplined enough to not beat themselves.
Mike Zimmer should help with some of that, but Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones are still around.
Agree, this team needs more discipline on both sides of the ball. Hopefully Zimmer can bring that to his side.
Unfortunately, it appears some players are preoccupied with social media, endorsements, and brand building. Then throw in these long term ultra lucrative, ill-conceived contracts, then front offices/coaches have their hands full trying get accountability.
That statement from Woodson just shows the way many of the Cowboy players may think today. And if that’s the case, this team has a lot of stuff to work through.
Discipline will help, but they need big bodies upfront, pressure DE’s and most importantly physical LBs that can flow to the ball and stop the run. Quinn generated pressure by using stunts and twists which left huge lanes for opposing RBs. The second level was undersized LBsrs who got trucked by the OL and allowed 5-6 yard runs consistently. Jerry needs to open up the wallet and go FA shopping.
Mike Zimmer lets wait and see when the N.F.L. season starts plus you will have to deal with Jerry Jones sticking his nose in everything
The idea that Zimmer is automatically better than Quin is something I am extremely skeptical of. The Cowboys were incredible at creating turnovers under Quin and I hope that continues. I think our inability to stop the run and “splash” plays is really something that isn’t going to be fixed by one coach change, we need players especially at the LB and DT position.
Disagree. Quinn turned the Cowboys defense around in 1 year. The defense was trash prior to Quinn. I think Quinn’s defenses are elite when the team is ahead and he can unleash his pass rush. The big tweak will be size under Zimmer. Cowboys will likely be in closer games more often, but against the better teams, the games will be close. If you cannot size up defensively and stop the run in those type of games, you’re not going to win. That was evidenced by the Cowboys lack of success against better football teams.
Any updates on your thinking now in early November?