Also, anybody see Jerry at the WC presser? Dude looked pretty beat.

Southlake said:

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Zimmer and Vrable don't want to join this s$i/ show

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Is that why Zimmer interviewed for the job?

Joe Witt was an in house name that was mentioned, but pretty sure he's following Quinn and will be the Wash DC.

I've also heard that Harris would follow Quinn. I haven't heard officially what he's doing, but I'm assuming he also follows Dan if he's not the Dallas DC.

My guess is Zimmer. I don't see somebody like Vrabel attaching themself to what might be a 1 year gig. Zimmer is older, he's familiar with the team, and doesn't have a 10 year agenda... he'd be my guess.

With one year as coordinator of the Texans. I don't know that that's a great sample size and who was on that Texans defense?

if Zimmer brings his girlfriend, it's a deal.

Woods Ag said:

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With one year as coordinator of the Texans. I don't know that that's a great sample size and who was on that Texans defense?

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what other sample do you need?

the one time he did it, he was not good. why should cowboys hire him?

they have up 7 less a game the previous year. #1 in total defense,

His defense has been on full display at Tennessee for the past several years. I'd say he's done a pretty good job with that.

Tennessee defenses were always decent to good.

He was a damn good player and HC and he would t have been if he was intelligent and dedicated. Something tells me he can problem coordinate a defense.

Yeah we can all go ahead and quit the team if that happens.

Dude.... Rex Ryan. For real!?! Why in the heck would anybody think that Rex Ryan has any idea about how to coach and scheme against modern NFL Offenses?

I'm almost at a complete loss just for the fact that he interviewed... I might literally lose all hope for next year if he's hired.

Maybe Jerry's just looking for someone who will immediately connect with Micah Parsons:
https://nypost.com/2023/02/10/cowboys-micah-parsons-openly-admits-he-has-foot-fetish/

Ryan has got to be just media chum for Super Bowl week, can't be a serious candidate.

Why not?

Dude watches football all year long. Did he forget how to recognize what offenses are doing?

Glad to see they're doing their due diligence and exploring any and all options. This hasn't been the case in the past.

Woods Ag said:

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Tennessee defenses were always decent to good.

He was a damn good player and HC and he would t have been if he was intelligent and dedicated. Something tells me he can problem coordinate a defense.

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He was not the defensive coordinator in TN

The one year he did it, the Texans fell off tremendously. He was not good. Does that mean he can never be good? Of course not.

But he's DC track record, even if one year, is not good. Much better options out there

I'm well aware of his role in TN and the delegation of power to a DC. Thanks for that lesson though.

He was DC for 1 year where Tom Savage was the QB for half the year, Watson got hurt I guess (don't remember), and TJ Yates was the other QB. They went 4-12.

Also that JJ Watt played 5 games. So you lose your 2 best players as well as the heartbeat of the team in JJ. That probably had an impact on his defense.

I'm not wasting my time digging in deeper. I'll restate, I'm sure he knows how to coach defense just fine given the type of player he was and coach he's been. I'm not sure he cares to be a DC though. I'm surprised he wasn't hired as a HC, but I'm sure he'll land one of those spots after a nice season as an analyst and relaxing.

I didn't see it, but my buddy said that Micah Parsons said he rushed the passer so much because that's what Dan Quinn wanted him to do. That he didn't care where he played and would play LBer full time if that's what he's told to do. He just wants to win. The edge rush stuff was all Quinn's doing.

I hope so. That's music to my ears.

It certainly feels like he could have very similar success (sacks & pressures) only rushing the passer occasionally. He's such a uniquely/physically gifted guy that I just think it's a bit of a disservice to let these bigger OTs get more comfortable/familiar with him as the game goes along.

Assuming he can be a bad ass sideline-to-sideline LB for us, then let him do it 60-80% of the time. And, as needed, have him rush the passer from either side or right up the middle.

The less they see him, the less they can figure out how to contain him *cough* how to hold him!!!

Exactly, and it solves our LBer problem. Parsons and Clark/Overshown should be sufficient. Grab another in the draft if you're not sure on Overshown/Clark, but that's enough talent to win at that position.

A starting DLine of Lawerence, Osa, Armstrong, and Hankins/Smith isn't bad either assuming Smith develops, but we can certainly find another big body to plug the middle especially if we don't need to take a LBer in the draft.

From there you can find decent rotation players on dline in FA. We already have Williams and Folwer.

That's the best way to fix this defense in my opinion. Now you're sitting there with your first pick and you can take whatever the best player is that falls to you because they're always one. Maybe its that Toledo CB (Mitchell), or a good olineman, maybe Chop Robinson if we have him graded well enough.

I'd love to get a young talented safety too if Bullard or whomever fits the bill later in the draft.

I disagree. You don't have an All Pro QB play tight end just because he's big and fast. Edge rusher is the prime position on defense, and Parsons is one of the best. Making him play stand up LB 70% of the time is like making Dak play TE 80% of the time, especially on run downs.

The only complicating factor, and it's a big one, is the way the league lets the OL hold like crazy on passing downs. They just ignore blatant holding on drop backs, and it makes it impossible for a single edge rusher to dominate a game. You're better off having 2-3 guys on the D line that can get pressure and overwhelm the offensive line. So we'll probably see the value of elite edge rushers drop pretty fast if this continues. In that case you'd put Parsons somewhere he could actually impact the game

He was that at linebacker and we made him a defensive end. Same amount of sacks whether playing primarily LBer or DE.

I'll push back here a bit. Micah is elite because of his ridiculous burst and athleticism, not because he's 6'5"+ with crazy long arms or an arsenal of pass rush moves. Micah is 6'3" 240ish pounds, which isn't small in the grand scheme of things, but it is on the smaller side for someone who is being played as a full time rush DE. If you compare him to all of the best pass rushers in the NFL (Watt, Garrett, Crosby, Allen, Bosa, Mack etc.) he would come out amongst the smallest in almost every category, and that's one of the biggest reasons (IMO) that he gets held and no called more than anyone in the NFL. He doesn't have the size, wingspan or pure rush moves to get off of OTs or guards that completely latch onto him.

Go watch his highlights for the last few seasons. He's great as an off ball linebacker diagnosing the run, filling his gap or weaving thru the line to hit hte ball carrier. Same with him in coverage. He's great at reading the QB, exploding to the flat to take care of that. There's one play where he comes across LVE and hits the back in the backfield on a swing pass, just because he saw it 1 second before LVE adn then his closing speed is super elite.

We need that. Watching the league this year, most defenses weren't led by their defensive line. It was linebacker play.

ramblin_ag02 said:

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Making him play stand up LB 70% of the time is like making Dak play TE 80% of the time, especially on run downs.

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We can certainly argue the percentages of how often he's rushing the passer, but I still think (like a lot of us are saying) that it's worth exploring getting him back to stand up LB. Label him an "OLB" if that's preferred... I know we don't run a base 3-4, but most of the top sack guys in the league are "LBs".

If he can play LB and play it as well as he does everything else it immediately makes us a better defense. If we can keep guys like Armstrong or Fowler to pair with D-Law, Sam Williams, etc. we'll still have a good pass rush... and we can still send Micah QB hunting anytime we want.

Maybe add a Justin Madubuike in free agency and our D-line and LB corps is looking much better before we even get to the draft.

Bob Sturm did a short report on the holding no calls, and it's league wide. It doesn't happen to Parsons any more than it happens to Garrett, Bosa, or Watt. Literally every one of those guys gets a fan compilation weekly of uncalled holding. Out of all the elite pass rushes, almost all the holding calls against them comes on run plays. The last holding call on Micah Parsons was on a run play. Seems pretty clear to me that it's intentional by the NFL and refs to not call holding on passing plays. That's probably one reason we're seeing elite defenses led by LBs and not edge rushers.

All things being equal, an elite edge rusher is way more valuable than an elite LB. The only question is "are things equal?" If he's not more effective at DE due to the league letting pass rushers get mugged, then you may as well play him at LB. But I'm hoping that all the ridiculous montages of non calls for holding will get the league's attention. Then maybe they will fix the problem or change the rules.

They've got to fix the rule in some way. I don't think you can just start calling more holding penalties because games would be completely unwatchable. There are holds on almost every single play and offense would dry up.

I agree. As awesome as it would be for Parsons, no one wants to see 12+ sacks and holding calls per game every game. That would be unwatchable. But if the league wants to slow down elite pass rushers, then make holding legal on passing downs. It's really stupid as it is now. You see Parsons get hugged and dragged to the ground with no call on a passing down, but then someone grabs his sleeve for 0.5 seconds on a run down and they call holding.

You're right. I'm assuming holding calls won't change or at least increase in relation to pass plays which is why I think you can play Parsons in the middle for the most effect.

I may be wrong, but I'd be willing to bet outside of Myles Garrett, there wasn't another 4man defensive line that just dominated this year. SF is the greatest collection of pass rushing freaks you can ask for and they didn't dominate games at all. It was Baltimore with a bunch of sim blitzes that got home.

I'd like to see a stat on which plays got home the most league wide. I'd bet it was "sim blitz" where they're bringing people other than the traditional 4 rushers be it linebackers, safeties, nickels, etc. that caused an olineman to miss an assignment.

The whole "blitzing" idea is why I'm liking the idea of Micah as a stand up LB. Instead of Micah being one of the 4 guys with his hand on the ground and blitzing a strong safety... I want 4 other guys up front and I want Micah being one of the guys coming on a designed blitz.

He did some of that this year, it just wasn't very often. Quinn had way too much confidence in his hybrid safeties. I think the unknown in the mind of a QB "I wonder what Micah is doing on this play" can be more effective than a QB who knows exactly what Micah is doing when he lines up at DE.

Again, we aren't talking stats here, nor do I think this would make Micah unstoppable. I think we see Micah consistently getting 10-15 sacks and a lot of pressures wherever he lines up. It's all about making the defense much more challenging for the offense to deal with if he doesn't simply stick his hand in the dirt +90% of the time.

Welp Zimmer it is. Thoughts?

I like it, a lot.

I'd rather a multiple defense with disguised fronts, but Zimmer is a proven sound defensive mind, so I'm ok with it.

All I do is Nguyen said:

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Welp Zimmer it is. Thoughts?

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Good move. He knows how to stop Shanahan offenses. Look at the last 3 playoff exits. We lost to Shanahan teams. That's what's blocking us right now. Hopefully he can help us with that.