Quotulatiousness

March 10, 2014

Vikings re-sign Everson Griffen, bring back Jasper Brinkley

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 07:35

The Minnesota Vikings were busy in free agency yesterday, with the big news being a deal with defensive end Everson Griffen:

This is obviously enormously good news for Everson Griffen, and I think it should be said good news for the Minnesota Vikings. Despite the fact that the contract might be large, the Vikings may have gotten away with a lot in signing Griffen to a relatively long-term deal, with a high guaranteed salary and an average of $8.5 million.

With this signing, a few dominoes fall, as well. This makes it massively unlikely that the Vikings pursue or sign Bengals defensive end Michael Johnson, and also resolves some of the issues with the 2014 NFL draft, pushing defensive end further down the needs chart.

The bigger story is what this means for Griffen, both on and off the field.

[…]

In the past two seasons, Everson Griffen ranks 17th of the 50 4-3 defensive ends who have rushed the passer at least 350 times at the DE position (as opposed to LB or DT) in Pro Football Focus’ Pass Rusher Productivity metric, which not only adds sacks, but weighs hits and hurries, too. In just pressures per snap, he also ranks 17th, which implies that his production so far has been sustainable.

That means that his numbers on a per-snap basis beat out Jared Allen, Cliff Avril, Michael Johnson and Rob Ninkovich and are extremely similar to Lamarr Houston. Brian Robison ranks 14th in both metrics. If they only ranked rushers who have had 750 pass-rushing snaps, Griffen would rank 13th in both categories while Robison would rank 11th (out of 27).

After an excellent 2012 where Griffen notched 8 sacks, 2013 saw his numbers go down a bit, in part due to natural regression (his eight sacks were unsustainably high, given that he only rushed the passer 400 times and had fewer hurries than you’d expect) but also because opponents were getting rid of the ball a little quicker (his total pressures increased, but his hits and sacks went down). His Pass Rusher Productivity increased despite fewer sacks.

Remember, disruption is production.

They also brought back middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley after a year in Arizona:

The Vikes, likely for cap reasons as much as anything, let the former starter Brinkley walk before the 2013 season. The linebacker landed in Arizona but didn’t do enough to convince the Cardinals to bring him back.

Now with the Vikings seeking linebacker depth, Minnesota has elected to go with the known quantity.

What we know about Jasper Brinkley: He’s decent against the run and can play downhill. In coverage he is brutal.

As a middle linebacker ranging around and making plays? I’m not feeling it. We’ll see what Zimmer’s plan is for Brinkley, but my feeling here is that this was a depth signing and more moves will be coming at linebacker, possibly in the draft.

Brinkley is a backup, and that’s all he is.

Update: Earlier today, the Vikings also re-signed linebacker Larry Dean (who’s valued for his special teams contributions).

March 9, 2014

“Legal tampering period” kicks off, and more on the Matt Cassel signing

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 09:53

We’re in that odd block of time between Saturday and Tuesday, where NFL teams are allowed to negotiate with free agent players (or players’ agents), but no deals can be announced until Tuesday. This gives every beat writer in every football town free range to go wild with speculation and sharing rumours about which glamourous free agents are in negotiations with their local team or being stalked by some other team. Given how much of the normal NFL year is given over to passing along rumours, this must be one of the peaks of ungrounded speculation (the other being the draft itself).

The Vikings are said to be trying to sign former Bengal defensive end Michael Johnson and former Titan defensive back Alterraun Verner, but we won’t know who’s signing with any team until Tuesday.

On slightly more solid ground, Jim Souhan says that the Matt Cassel deal was the right move for both the Vikings and for Cassel himself:

Matt Cassel’s return to the Vikings sets up so many juicy possibilities.

The team is now one signing away from putting the band back together. If they can just re-sign Josh Freeman, they’ll have Cassel, Freeman and Ponder all under contract, negating the chance of any of their competitors stealing the magic formula of the 2013 Minnesota Vikings, or what Vikings receivers called, “Hunger Games: Catching Nothing.”

[…]

OK, that’s not fair. The Cassel signing is rational. He played pretty well last year, and handled himself like a pro even when forced to watch Ponder throw at the feet of receivers and Freeman throw at the feet of concessionaires.

What’s most important about the Cassel signing is that it allows the Vikings to maneuver. With Cassel capable of starting or relieving, the Vikings can cut Ponder if they want. They can spend a high draft pick on their latest quarterback of the future and know they won’t have to rush him into action.

And here’s a thought that might infuriate Vikings fans desperate to draft and develop their own Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers: The Vikings have done pretty well signing veteran quarterbacks. Their Plan Bs have worked out better than a lot of teams’ Plan As.

March 8, 2014

Vikings re-sign quarterback Matt Cassel

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 11:54

Taking some pressure off the Vikings’ requirements in the upcoming draft, yesterday they re-signed Matt Cassel to a two-year, $10 million deal. Cassel had voided the optional second year of his original contract to test the free agency waters. Clearly the right decision for him, as he’ll be making a fair bit more than the $3.7 called for in that contract. ESPN‘s Ben Goessling has more:

Now, the Vikings at least have their much-discussed bridge to the future, whatever that is. If they don’t get a quarterback in the first round of the draft, they can at least take one in a later round and let him compete for the job with Cassel, knowing they can probably survive if he’s not ready to play right away. And if they choose to look toward a 2015 quarterback class that could include Oregon’s Marcus Mariota and UCLA’s Brett Hundley, they could have Cassel’s hand at the helm for 2014.

Let’s be clear about what Cassel is, and is not. He is the most reliable quarterback on the Vikings’ roster at the moment, after turning in more solid performances than bad ones in a goofy year at quarterback in Minnesota. He is not the kind of QB the Vikings will build around, and his two-year deal reflects that. He’s had two good full seasons as a starting quarterback — in 2008 for the Patriots and 2010 for the Chiefs — and has been mediocre in the full-time role otherwise. But the Vikings were never asking Cassel to be a long-term solution at the position. They were simply hoping he could drive them from here to their next quarterback without banging the car up too badly. He should be able to do that, and now, the Vikings don’t have to head into the rest of the spring staring at a gaping hole at the NFL’s most important position.


MINNEAPOLIS – DECEMBER 15: Matt Cassel #16 of the Minnesota Vikings warms up prior to an NFL game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Mall of America Field, on December 15, 2013 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Dahlin/Getty Images)

March 6, 2014

Mike Zimmer hosts Twin Cities media for lunch and film session

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 15:44

I continue to be impressed with the approach taken by new Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer. Today he sat down with several Minneapolis/St. Paul sports writers to look at film and discuss the Vikings’ plans as they enter the free agency period. USA Today‘s Tom Pelissero was there and posted a summary:

New Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Zimmer says he’d like quarterback Matt Cassel to re-sign with the team, but Zimmer knows it’s not his decision.

“I would love to Matt Cassel back, if Matt Cassel wants to be back,” Zimmer said Thursday. “I don’t know if that will happen, won’t happen. But we’re going to find a quarterback somewhere, and if it’s not Matt Cassel, then we’ll find someone else.

“I want guys that want to be here. I want guys that want to be part of the franchise, be part of the organization, be part of the team, and if Matt wants to come back, then I’m sure we’ll get it worked out.”

Cassel, 31, voided the second year of his contract last month and can become an unrestricted free agent at 4 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. The window for teams to talk to the agents for prospective UFAs begins Saturday.

“I think everyone wants to explore,” Zimmer said. “He’s got a bunch of pretty girls looking at him right now. So, he wants to explore and see what’s best for him.

Zimmer also announced the following dates:

  • April 28 Veteran minicamp report date
  • April 29-May 1 Veteran minicamp
  • May 15 Rookie minicamp report date
  • May 16-18 Rookie minicamp
  • May 28-30 Organized Team Activities (OTAs)
  • June 3-5 Second week of OTAs
  • June 9-12 Third week of OTAs
  • June 17-19 Mandatory minicamp

In other team news, yesterday the Vikings released tight end John Carlson, whose big money contract didn’t translate into the kind of on-the-field impact both sides had hoped for. Earlier today, the team also released defensive tackle Letroy Guion and wide receiver Greg Childs. Childs had been drafted at the same time as WR Jarius Wright, but suffered a serious injury to both knees and never played a down for the team.

Update: Cornerback Chris Cook — who many view as being on his way out of Minnesota due to performance issues — tweeted that he’d talked over his future with Zimmer. In an aside today, Zimmer said “My impression is that he shouldn’t be tweeting our conversation.” Most players would have heard that shot across the bow and shut up. That apparently isn’t Cook’s style:

February 10, 2014

The NFL’s first openly gay draft candidate and the Vikings’ image problem

Filed under: Football, Media — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:11

It’s likely to be a very tense day in the public relations office of the Minnesota Vikings, after Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam came out … and the jokes started about the only team in the league that wouldn’t draft him. At The Viking Age, Dan Zinski rounds up the first crop of jokes and rumours:

News broke late Sunday afternoon of former Missouri defensive lineman and current NFL draft prospect Michael Sam’s decision to come out as a gay man. Immediately the jabs started appearing on Twitter, the great social media instant pop culture temperature gauge.

“Well, I know the Vikings won’t be drafting Michael Sam,” tweeted @dbaby_23.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and say Michael Sam will not be drafted by the Vikings,” tweeted @ChrisJamesMMA.

“100000 dollars says the vikings dont draft michael sam,” tweeted @sports_scene.

“I bet Michael Sam would make a great special teams player for the vikings!” tweeted @MattesonTrevor.

“well you know the Vikings aren’t gonna draft Michael Sam,” tweeted @Miyag_e.

And on and on in that vein.

Endless jokes about how the Vikings will never draft Michael Sam because they have an openly homophobic coach on their staff.

Completely unfair jokes, because Mike Priefer, even if he thinks the things Chris Kluwe says he thinks, doesn’t speak for the team. He only speaks for himself.

But still, it’s out there. It’s in people’s minds. The Vikings are guilty of homophobia, if only by association.

A willing association with a man whose public image is, justly or unjustly, that of a bigot.

The timing couldn’t be much worse for the Vikings: they had an ongoing investigation into Chris Kluwe’s accusations against Mike Priefer, but they also had a new coaching staff being hired. They couldn’t just part company with Priefer while the investigation was underway for fear of being sued for wrongful dismissal. If the investigation sustains Kluwe’s side of the story, the team can discipline or dismiss Priefer with a clear conscience (assuming that the investigation isn’t a whitewash from the start), but if they clear Priefer of any wrongdoing, they’ll probably take an even worse beating in the court of public opinion … at least until the next NFL scandal comes up.

The media attention on the story of the first openly gay NFL player (assuming he’ll be drafted, that is) won’t be over quickly. The Vikings can only hope that their share of the attention will quickly diminish.

February 9, 2014

Decoding “Rickspeak” at the Vikings’ Arctic Blast charity event

Filed under: Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 09:59

At the Daily Norseman Ted Glover has a mission. Part of it is to cover the Vikings on and off the field, during the pre-season, regular season, and (when the stars align correctly) the playoffs. He has another task during the off-season that may be his most critical contribution to Vikings fans: he translates the specially encoded verbiage of Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman into everyday English:

Rick Spielman spoke to the press up at Arctic Blast, and, as is my civic duty, I must break down Rickspeak and translate. Thanks to Master Tesfatsion of the Strib on getting some good notes.

And yes, I just wanted to write ‘Master Tesfatsion’, because I still maintain that’s the coolest beat writer name in Vikings history. Anyway, on to Rickspeak.

In short Rickspeak is GM Rick Spielman showing us his black belt in verbal judo, and it’s a nuanced way of speaking. You have to read between the lines to really get at what Spielman means, and that’s where I come in — I do the between the lines reading** to let you know what Spielman actually meant.***

**Obviously, that’s impossible. I don’t know how to read.

***Again, impossible. If I could read minds I would use it to take over the world, much like an evil James Bond villain. And no one wants that.

Here are a few key bits of translation:

    Rick Said: …the team’s annual goal is to compile at least 10 draft selections. “We have eight right now and a lot of that [movement] doesn’t happen until you’re on the clock,” Spielman said on Saturday during the 19th annual Arctic Blast snowmobile rally to benefit the Vikings Children’s Fund. “Heck, last year they pulled me out of a press conference to go get [Cordarrelle] Patterson because you never know. But I really, really think we’re going to do a lot of movement in the draft.”

Rick Meant: 10 picks is cool, and nothing really starts moving until draft day, but I’m stirring the pot just by opening my grocery hole to the press. When I have dopes like Dan Snyder and whoever is running that sitcom we call the Cleveland Browns, I’m pretty sure I can talk them into anything. Remember trading back one spot the year everyone knew we were going to draft Matt Kalil…and still drafting Matt Kalil? Cleveland…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

    Rick Said: Spielman thinks the Vikings have a lot of flexibility with the eighth overall pick and plans to be aggressive in the draft with the idea of trading down for more picks, or up for a certain player.

    “Everything is a possibility; we’re in February,” Spielman said.

Rick Meant: I might move up. I might move down. I might move laterally. You say to yourself that’s impossible because you can’t move laterally, but when we’re sitting with three number 8 picks in the first round, your mind is going to be blown. AND YOU WILL WORSHIP THE GROUND THAT I WALK ON!

February 8, 2014

New Viking stadium “seat licenses” a good reason to watch the game on TV

Filed under: Economics, Football — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 11:49

Perhaps I misunderstand the economic argument here, but I’d always had a pretty basic notion about buying season tickets or individual game tickets for most professional sports. You either bought a season ticket package for x number of games (up to the full season of home games) or you bought a single ticket for a particular game. Over the years, I’ve bought tickets to individual Viking games in Buffalo and Detroit where the purchase was simple and straightforward … I paid the fee and received a ticket. Nice and simple. Apparently that sort of stone-age arrangement is long in the past: at least in Minnesota, you need to buy a “seat license” in order to then buy season tickets. The Daily Norseman‘s Ted Glover explains:

In an effort to raise $100 million of their portion of money for the new stadium, the Vikings released their ‘stadium builder’s plan’ for folks that want season tickets.

What’s a stadium builder’s plan? Well, it’s a one time fee that allows to you get season tickets … and you’ll also have to pay for those. Basically, the better the seat, the more cabbage you’re going to have to cough up. For example, if you want a season ticket in the ‘Valhalla Club’, your one time seat license fee will be $9,500, plus the cost of season tickets.

Damn, son.

The Vikings will have SBL’s for approximately 75% of the seats in the stadium, and the farther away you get from the field, the cheaper they are. The cheapest SBL is $500, and you have two payment options, 3 years with no interest, or 8 years with an as yet TBD interest charge.

On the one hand, I approve of the idea that the fans should pay more of the cost of building a new stadium rather than non-football fans among the state’s taxpayers. On the other hand, the prices seem incredibly steep for a mere “license”. You can get a virtual look at what you’ll be licensing a tiny bit of:

However, in an effort to relieve the sticker shock of said licenses, they released a virtual tour of what the new stadium will look like. And it’s pretty damn cool.

So, grab your checkbook. And your ankles.

February 7, 2014

After a long wait, Vikings finally announce the rest of Mike Zimmer’s coaching staff

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 08:52

The Minnesota Vikings took a long, long time between hiring Mike Zimmer as the new head coach and announcing the rest of the coaching staff. Some of the delay was obviously to interview and hire the individual assistant coaches, and some of the delay was assumed to be a side-effect of the Chris Kluwe accusations against incumbent special teams co-ordinator Mike Priefer. The second assumption can’t have been very important, as Priefer has retained his position on the new coaching staff. Kluwe’s lawyer immediately threatened to sue the team over the situation.

Setting aside the potential courtroom drama, here are the new and retained members of the coaching staff:

Norv Turner — Offensive Co-ordinator

  • Jeff Davidson — Offensive Line
  • Klint Kubiack — Assistant Wide Receivers/Quality Control
  • Kevin Stefanski — Tight Ends
  • George Stewart — Wide Receivers
  • Scott Turner — Quarterbacks
  • Kirby Wilson — Running Backs

George Edwards — Defensive Co-ordinator

  • Robb Akey — Assistant Defensive Line
  • Johnathan Gannon — Assistant Defensive Backs/Quality Control
  • Jerry Gary — Defensive Backs
  • Jeff Howard — Defensive Assistant
  • Andre Patterson — Defensive Line
  • Adam Zimmer — Linebackers

Mike Priefer — Special Teams Co-ordinator

  • Ryan Ficken — Assistant Special Teams
  • Drew Petzing — Coaching Assistant

Jim Souhan discusses Norv Turner’s record and his tentative plans for the coming season:

Norv Turner doesn’t name-drop. He fame-drops.

In 20 minutes on Thursday, Turner, the new Vikings offensive coordinator, mentioned John Robinson, Don Coryell, LaDainian Tomlinson, Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, Terry Allen, John Riggins, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Ricky Williams and Josh Gordon.

What might hearten Vikings fans is that he also mentioned Brad Johnson and Russell Wilson.

Turner is one of the best offensive coaches of the past 25 years. He has excelled while coaching for and with Hall of Fame coaches, and while coaching Hall of Fame-caliber players.

With Matt Cassel opting out of his contract, the Vikings currently employ one quarterback: Christian “You still here?” Ponder. Turner’s quarterback could be Cassel, should the Vikings re-sign him. It could be a first-round draft pick. It could be a third-round draft pick. It could even be Ponder, because Vikings fans apparently have not been punished enough for the deal with the devil that twice brought Fran Tarkenton to town.

Turner either will be asked to coax a career performance out of a less-than-heralded veteran, or rush a rookie into action, or both.

January 20, 2014

A Rickspeak decoder for the Mike Zimmer introductory press conference

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 10:53

At the Daily Norseman, Ted Glover provides a highly informative translation of what was said — and what was really meant — at the Vikings’ press conference to introduce new head coach Mike Zimmer:

Rickspeak is a complicated, evolutionary form of communication that takes years, if not decades to master. And yes, we’ll completely ignore that fact that Spielman has been here less than a decade. Shut up.

So, how is Mike Zimmer in the ways of Rickspeak? Let’s break down some of what he said during the introductory presser, shall we? Now, we won’t break down the whole press conference (you can read the entire transcript here if you like), because it was over half an hour long. And, as always, what Rick or Mike actually said will be quoted first, and then what they probably meant will be interpreted below. There’s some NSFW language in here, because Mike F@#$% Zimmer, yo.

[…]

Q: Have you decided on your coordinators yet?

What Mike Said: No. We are still working on the staff situations on everything right now. We are going to announce the entire staff at a later time when we get them all finished.

What Mike Meant: I know exactly who I want, chucklehead. I’m not going to tell you, though.

Q: When you look at the roster you inherited, how do evaluate the situation and the players you now have?

What Mike Said: I am a big believer in when we get out here in the field show me what you can do. I don’t ever want to pre-judge a player from what I see on film because I do not know what the previous coaches have told them and I have my own ideas on the way I want to do things.

What Mike Meant: I don’t know what the hell was going on here before, but on film it looked like a combination Clown Show and Kabuki Dick Dance Theater. When I get these guys out on the field, I’m going to be watching them, because I’m pretty sure the previous coordinators didn’t know what the hell they were doing. I’ll fix it, too.

January 19, 2014

Vikings hire Norv Turner as OC

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 12:19

It’s been widely rumoured that Norv Turner would be hired as the new offensive co-ordinator, but the deal was still being negotiated. At The Viking Age, Dan Zinski exults that former OC Bill Musgrave has been replaced:

After three years of infuriating Viking fans with his over-conservative playcalling, Bill Musgrave is officially out as offensive coordinator in Minnesota. He will be replaced by some guy named Norv Turner, who I hear has a pretty decent track record as an OC (head coach … that’s another matter).

It’s not entirely official yet, but the word is that Norv has signed up to be Mike Zimmer’s top offensive assistant, and that George Edwards will be defensive coordinator.

Zimmer has indicated that he will be heavily involved himself in designing the defensive scheme and may call plays, so Edwards’ responsibilities may be somewhat more limited than a normal defensive coordinator’s.

It doesn’t always work out when head coaches try to run the defense or offense themselves, so we’ll see if Zimmer ends up sticking with that plan.

Norv comes over from Cleveland where he spent a year as offensive coordinator. Under Turner, Josh Gordon became one of the top receivers in the league, and Jordan Cameron developed into one of the better tight ends. With guys like Brian Hoyer, Brandon Weedon and Jason Campbell playing quarterback.

Norv will have raw materials to work with in Minnesota as well. The Vikings sport one of the game’s most exciting young receivers in Cordarrelle Patterson and one of the better young tight ends in Kyle Rudolph.

January 16, 2014

Vikings officially announce the hiring of Mike Zimmer

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 08:46

It took a bit longer for the team to get an official announcement out, but they confirm that Mike Zimmer is the new head coach of the Minnesota Vikings:

Mike Zimmer was hired as the 9th Head Coach in Vikings history on January 15, 2014. A veteran defensive coordinator, Zimmer enters his 21st season on an NFL sideline, the past 14 working as defensive coordinator for Cincinnati (2008-13), Atlanta (2007) and Dallas (2000-06).

Zimmer has been a part of 11 playoff teams in his NFL tenure and teams that have won 7 Division titles. He coached the Cowboys DBs when the team won Super Bowl XXX over Pittsburgh after the 1995 season. Zimmer’s Bengals defenses since 2008 have ranked in the NFL’s top 10 in total defense 4 times, climbing to #3 in 2013. Since 2011, the Bengals ranked #2 in the NFL with 139 sacks (46.3 per season) and have allowed 18.8 points per game, ranking #4 in the NFL in points allowed. The 2013 Bengals posted 20 INTs, the 5th-best mark in the NFL.

Zimmer’s arrival in Cincinnati for the 2008 season signaled a franchise turnaround on the defensive side of the ball. The Bengals notched top-10 defensive rakings in 2009, ’11, ’12 and ’13 after only cracking the NFL’s top 10 once in the previous 18 seasons before Zimmer joined the team. During his tenure, Zimmer coached DT Geno Atkins as he became one of the top DTs in the NFL, earning consensus All-Pro honors in 2012 and Pro Bowl berths in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, LB Vontaze Burfict continued his rise from a rookie free agent in 2012 to a Pro Bowler in 2013. Atkins became the 1st Bengals defensive lineman since Tim Krumrie in 1988 to earn a Pro Bowl trip and Burfict was the 1st Bengals linebacker to be honored since Jim LeClair in 1976. Over the 2012 and 2013 seasons the Bengals had 4 different players earn AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors- Michael Johnson, Carlos Dunlap, Atkins and Burfict.

Zimmer led top-10 defenses for Dallas in both a 4-3 and 3-4 scheme. The 2003 Cowboys defense led the NFL with only 253.3 yards per game allowed. During Zimmer’s tenure in Dallas as DBs coach (1994-99) and Defensive Coordinator (2000-06) the team ranked in the top 5 of NFL scoring defense a total of 6 times. The 1995 Cowboys hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XXX with a win over Pittsburgh and one of Zimmer’s pupils, CB Larry Brown, won the Super Bowl MVP award with a pair of INTs in the game.

Update: Judd Zulgad highlights a key difference between former coach Leslie Frazier and new coach Mike Zimmer:

January 15, 2014

Minnesota hires Mike Zimmer as their new head coach

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 11:12

It’s being widely reported (at least on Twitter) that the Minnesota Vikings have offered the head coaching position to Cincinnati Bengals defensive co-ordinator Mike Zimmer. Zimmer arrived in Minnesota yesterday for a second interview with Vikings executives and remained in town overnight. At the Daily Norseman, Arif Hasan put together a voluminous compendium of information on the head coaching candidates. Here’s part of the section on Mike Zimmer:

The former linebacker is also well-known for specific gameplanning, and pre-game adjustments to the scheme to match the weaknesses of the opponent, rather than relying on a base scheme. There are significant drawbacks to this approach (which is why the league-leading Seahawks defense prefers to stick with the scheme instead of changing much for specific game plans), but it has its adherents (Bill Belichick being the most famous — though defensive mavens like Rex Ryan do this as well. It is also the approach of Todd Bowles, the DC of the second-best defense in the league in Arizona).

The position that Zimmer prefers to be deepest seems to be cornerback, although he’s made sure the roster has had competition at a number of levels. Also interestingly, he has a tendency both to stick with and quickly move on from players. The best example of this odd paradox is Rey Maualuga, second-round pick for the Bengals in 2009. Rey was a solid-to-good strongside linebacker that did well for two years before switching to the middle.

[…]

Zimmer is probably best known for his hardnose, “no-nonsense” style of coaching that has endeared him to Bengals fans and seems to follow the tradition of Bill Parcells, berating players blue in order to get them fired up. Applied with intelligence, it also seems to have gotten the players’ loyalty. He’s even used it as an asset in his free agency recruiting, arguing that his ability to get results is better for players than what others can offer. It also means that players know where they stand with him, which can be invaluable.

Update: The Star Tribune confirms the news with this report by Mark Craig:

Mike Zimmer, a 20-year veteran NFL assistant coach who worked with Hall of Famer Bill Parcells in Dallas before turning the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense around as their defensive coordinator the past six seasons, has been hired as the ninth head coach in the Vikings’ 54-year history, NFL sources confirmed.

Zimmer, who has never been a head coach at any level, replaces Leslie Frazier, who was fired on Dec. 30, and becomes the third head coach hired since current owners Zygi and Mark Wilf bought the team in 2005.

Zimmer, 57, played quarterback and linebacker at Illinois State. He then coached on the defensive side at the collegiate level for 15 years at Missouri, Weber State and Washington State before joining the Dallas Cowboys as secondary coach.

He won a Super Bowl ring when the Cowboys beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XXX. One of Zimmer’s players, unheralded cornerback Larry Brown, became the game’s MVP.

[…]

Zimmer was praised by Parcells recently in a Star Tribune article.

“He’s very competitive, he’s intense,” Parcells said. “I think he’s a smart guy. … Every place that I’ve ever heard that he’s been, the players really liked him. And yet he doesn’t coddle the players at all. He’s got a good balance with that tough love.

“I think now he’s got enough experience to handle the players and the big picture and the scouting and the constraints and the things that the league mandates now. He’s got enough experience to where he’d do a good job.”

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis also has said Zimmer has what it takes to be a head coach.

“Zim does a great job of identifying who to push and when,” Lewis was quoted as saying on the Bengals website. “He helps me by being the guy who puts his foot up their butt, getting them moving in the right direction so I don’t have to be the one to do it all the time.”

Zimmer’s son, Adam, is a Bengals assistant coach. He also has two daughters Corri and Marki. Zimmer’s wife, Vicki, passed away suddenly of natural causes at age 50 in 2009. That same year, he was named NFL assistant coach of the year by cbssports.com and the Pro Football Writers Association.

January 12, 2014

Vikings schedule second interviews with two head coach candidates

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:53

The Minnesota Vikings have moved on to setting up second interviews for at least two of the head coaching candidates they’ve talked to:

Numerous sources are reporting that both Todd Bowles, defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals, and Mike Zimmer, defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals, will be getting second interviews with the team this week. Zimmer’s interview is reportedly going to be “early next week,” according to our friends from Cincy Jungle, while no date … firm or otherwise … has been floated for Bowles’ potential second interview.

The third finalist is presumed to be San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Rick Spielman and company were in Charlotte today to interview him, the last day they could do so. If the Niners defeat the Carolina Panthers and advance in the post-season, the Vikings wouldn’t be able to interview him again until the week before the Super Bowl. If the Niners lose, one would assume that Roman’s second interview would be sometime next week.

Arif Hasan has a compendium of information on all the known head coach candidates the Vikings have interviewed. This is from the section on Todd Bowles:

Currently the defensive coordinator for one of the league’s top defenses, Todd Bowles is quickly gaining buzz among fans and within coaching circles as a potential head coach and like few candidates was actually a fairly fine player in the NFL. The Cardinals are doing well with Bowles for now, but it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to keep him for long.

[…]

Bowles is not particularly married to a specific type of front, whether 3-4 or 4-3 and has operated in multiple types of defenses with different gap concepts, from one-gap, to hybrids, to pure two-gap defenses. He’s shown a slight preference for tight man coverage, though focuses less on using the coverage to disrupt timing and more on finding ways to prevent outlet passes from appearing for opposing offenses.

This is in part due to the small amount of data that people have about the types of schemes he prefers—he hasn’t been a DC recently for very long.

From what seems evident, Bowles strives to create situations favorable to the player instead of maintaining scheme integrity, but doesn’t fully embrace the “adapt the scheme to the talent” mantra that has been so popular for fans and sportswriters (notably, neither did the other top DVOA defenses this year: Seattle, Carolina, Buffalo and Cincinnati), in that he prefers schematic soundness to maximizing success for every individual player.

There’s little doubt, however, that Bowles prefers to be aggressive more than anything else and seems to employ more one-gap principles than two-gap principles in his defenses.

This is from the section on Mike Zimmer:

Mike Zimmer has recently become a hot name in coaching searches, and it’s easy to see why: even with a defense missing its two best players (Geno Atkins and Leon Hall), Cincinnati had a top five defense and entered the playoffs despite spotty quarterback play.

[…]

Zimmer’s teams have been marked by an ability to recognize talent no matter the source and putting them in positions to perform, from first-round draft picks like Leon Hall, to undrafted free agents like Vontaze Burfict — both of whom are at the top of their position. Players like Vincent Rey (UDFA), Geno Atkins (4th-round pick) and others from nearly every round have made key contributions for Zimmer over the years.

The belief that Zimmer is an excellent defensive coordinator is very true, although I think overstated (I would put more stock in Wade Phillips or Rob Ryan, for example). Zimmer is considered a 4-3 specialist, but that probably pigeonholes him.

This year, he’s used more players in the same base formation to do different things. It would be correct to call Zimmer vanilla in his personnel deployments (the Bengals barely, if at all, used personnel outside of 4-3-4 or 4-2-5) but incorrect to say he doesn’t use situational players, rotate or find creative uses of his personnel. Interestingly, he was forced to run a 3-4 with the Cowboys, and that likely influenced how exactly he runs his defense.

January 4, 2014

Former Vikings head coach doesn’t stay unemployed for long

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 13:08

Leslie Frazier was fired as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday. Today, he accepted the job as defensive co-ordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

You can stop worrying about Leslie Frazier. He’s fine. He has scored himself a new gig as defensive coordinator with his old friend Lovie Smith in Tampa Bay.

Rumors have it that Rod Marinelli was actually the first choice as DC in Tampa but I guess Marinelli didn’t want the gig so they went to #2 choice Frazier. Leslie served as defensive coordinator for a couple years in Minnesota before his ill-fated tenure as head coach. Years back he was DC with Cincinnati.

Frazier, a long-time devotee of the Tampa-2 defense, goes to the city that gave the defense its name. Now we wait to see if he tries to bring any of his former Minnesota assistants with him. The Vikings still have all those guys under contract, including Leslie’s friend Mike Singletary.

We can also speculate on which current Viking free agents might now look at Tampa Bay as an attractive destination because Leslie is there and will likely install a system similar to the one the Vikings ran. Jared Allen is a guy who might be a fit in Tampa. You also have to look at a guy like Erin Henderson who is likely done in Minnesota after his most recent DWI arrest. Frazier was always in Henderson’s corner and seems to like him as a Will backer in his scheme.

I’d be surprised if Singletary didn’t also follow Frazier to Tampa Bay, and (sadly) Jared Allen has almost certainly played his final game for the Vikings and hasn’t indicated any plan to retire. I’m glad Frazier will be in the league next year, even if he is working for another team. Still no change on the replacement head coach search in Minnesota: lots of candidates mentioned, but many interviews still to be conducted.

January 3, 2014

Patterson goes to the Pro Bowl after all

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 08:20

The NFL Pro Bowl will be following different rules this year and one of the rule changes is the elimination of the kickoff (instead of a kickoff, the receiving team will just get the ball at their own 25 yard line). Cordarrelle Patterson was the best kick returner in the NFL this season, but if there are no kickoffs, there’s no need for KRs on the team. However, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown will miss the Pro Bowl and Patterson has been named as his replacement.

Patterson may already be the NFL’s best kick returner … a point that is moot in the Pro Bowl because, for the first time, the Pro Bowl has eliminated kickoffs entirely (teams will just get the ball at the 25-yard line to start each possession). Brown was on the Pro Bowl roster as both a receiver and a punt returner, so it’s possible that Patterson could get a look in that role in the Pro Bowl. Patterson was on the field for a couple of punt returns for the Vikings late in the season.

From what I can see of the Pro Bowl rosters, Patterson is now currently the only rookie on the team. Don’t know if that will help his Rookie of the Year campaign or not … but it should.

The Pro Bowl teams will be selected on 22 January, with the game itself taking place in Honolulu on 26 January.

The most visible change to the Pro Bowl this year is that the teams will no longer represent the two conferences: the teams will be chosen in sandlot style by two honorary captains (Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders) from the pool of nominated players.

Update: Interestingly, Patterson has also been named to the first team All-Pro roster as a kick returner. He’s apparently the only rookie on the All-Pro team this year. Adrian Peterson was nominated to the second team at running back, despite having his second-worst year statistically.

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