Jay Glazer: Dolphins to seek permission to interview Bengals DC Mike Zimmer

I like this.

 

Finally, a candidate that gets my excitement level up.

 

Yeah, I haven't seen the Mularkey thing anywhere else other than on NFL Network yesterday.

 

I was expecting to hear that Miami would be interviewing Jay Gruden.

 

Is that to say you'd prefer Gruden over Zimmer?

 

Well, if Zimmer is hired, I'd have to think that the DE position will garner a great deal of attention from our scouting staff in the next few months.

 

Does anyone have any idea what type of offense Zimmer would want his team to run?

 

No, they both have good reputations. If anything Zimmer is further along on that "deserves a HC gig" path.

 

I can't find it, put I remember someone posting an article where Gruden himself says he's not ready to become a HC.
If Zimmer gets hired, I assume that would mean we'd be moving back to a 4-3.

 

Some around here will surely balk at Zimmer because he has zero HC experience.

 

Perhaps Quinton Coples will be the pick.

 

I am not interested in seeing the Dolphins hire a defensive coordinator as the teams next head coach. If the Dolphins are going to be interviewing a Bengals assistant for their HC position, I think Jay Gruden would be the better option. A potent offense is what is needed in Miami and I just don't see Zimmer as an offensive minded coach.

 

I read that about Gruden, but I don't agree with him. I actually think that he would take the opportunity and maybe even do better b/c of his fear of not being ready.

As for the 4-3, I see that an irrelevant distinction in today's NFL. It is such a passing league that most teams spend the majority of their time in a nickel or dime with a four man front regardless of whatever they call their base D. Then in their base D they use hybrid lines anyways.

 

That doesn't mean he won't hire an OC and tell him to do what he wants, while Zimmer focuses on defense and HC duties.

 

Wasn't Zimmer the Cowboys' DC under Parcells?

 

I thought he was a defensive coach in Dallas but not the DC, something like a nickel defense assistant.

 

I agree. But I was thinking more along the lines of personnel and where some of the current players we have would fit into Zimmer's system. I.E. Soliai, Langford, Odrick, Dansby, Wake.

 

Here's his coaching bio from the Bengals website:

 

OMG!!!! The end is nigh!!!! Panic, panic, panic.

Our offense/defense is going to suck! We can't have a an OC/DC/OL/College coach be our HC because we had Cam/Wanny/Sparano/Saban fail as HC.

We need a HC that is focused on run/pass/defense!!!!

Its over!! Ross/Huzeinga sucks!!!

 

Why would hiring a defensive minded coach, mean we would have a boring, ground and pound offense? I dont see why one has to do with the other?

 

Not. Sure. If. Serious.....

 

Was my first thought too. Now that the defense is built we will have to re-tool. Most of the front 7 isn't geared to play 4-3.
Sure they could do it but not dominate. It just isn't put together that way.

 

My dream staff:

HC: who cares as long as they can keep **** together

OC/OL: Bill Callahan...say what you want about him as a HC, but he is a competent OC.

DC: Monte Kiffin, back up the money truck to USC and make it happen. Look what has happened to Tampa since he left.

Let 'er rip fellas

 

The Parcells connection:

"I would hear in high school, 'He's only playing in baseball because his dad's the football coach,' " Zimmer says. "The deal with Parcells is that I wanted to prove to him I was (Bill) Belichick."

He proved enough to Parcells that earlier this week the head of the Dolphins returned a call within the hour when he discovered the subject was Zimmer. When Parcells arrived in Dallas as the head coach in 2003, he chose to retain Zimmer as defensive coordinator, and with their offices side-by-side he would often give Zimmer quick vignettes on what to do as an NFL head coach during their four seasons together.

Maybe Parcells' biggest influence can be seen in how the Cincinnati defense plays. Zimmer uses a 4-3 alignment, but many of his rush principles come out of his time with Parcells in the 3-4.

"We were running Jimmy Johnson' s 4-3," says Zimmer of his first of 13 seasons in Dallas in 1994. "We evolved a little bit and we were kind of doing what Tampa did. When we went to a 3-4 (under Parcells) and it evolved into 3-4 principles. Here, we're still a 4-3 base team for the most part. Our pressure packages are a little bit more evolved. We studied a lot of teams and we got some of those ideas from Parcells."

Zimmer's constant admonition to the defensive backs to "disrupt and disturb" the receivers come straight from Parcells, and the textbook example can be seen in Belichick rerouting the Rams receivers from glory to obscurity in the Patriots' first Super Bowl victory.

"I really liked working with Mike," Parcells says. "Coach's son. He really gets it. The work ethic that he has really comes through. He gets down to the details of it."

It helped that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones recommended Zimmer to Parcells. But, as only Parcells can say, "I make my own judgments."

"When I came to Dallas, my staff had dispersed, mainly to New England, and Jerry Jones was an influence there," Parcells says. "He told me Mike was an eager young coach with a lot of experience who knew what he was doing and that's what I discovered when I sat down and talked to him."

When Zimmer wasn't sure Parcells was staying or going before the 2007 season, he took the defensive coordinator's job in Atlanta under Petrino. Parcells did leave a few weeks later and Zimmer still wonders if Jones might have tapped him for the job. He's also interviewed in St. Louis and San Diego recently and Parcells told him to hang with it.
"Sure he can," Parcells said when asked if Zimmer can be an NFL head coach. "Nowadays you just have to make sure it's the right situation. It's a team thing with ownership all the way down. Some of these places, you can go in there with one hand tied behind your back."

Zimmer says Parcells told him a bunch of times that they shared the same temperament. Asked if he sees a bit of him in Zimmer, Parcells laughs.

"I don’t know about that," Parcells says. "You know, some people would tell you that's not a good thing."

If there's one thing Zimmer took from Parcells, it is how to push the right button with players. When to ride them. When to back off. Former Bengals defensive tackle John Thornton, who retired this offseason, never felt like Zimmer liked him. After the Bengals tried to trade for Shaun Rogers and DeWayne Robertson, Zimmer would grouse at the other defensive linemen that the 31-year-old Thornton he would call 36 was running rings around them.

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Zimmer-shoulders-Ds-chip/efda2076-5679-4cee-9e7b-def785f21ef6

 

IMO, Wake would be better in a 4-3 and I think Dansby probably would be OK too. As for the others, not sure. Could Odrick play DT in a 4-3?

 

This is where you lost me.

 

Which part?

 

If you look at Pitt and especially NE you see defensive coaches with some pretty high powered offenses. As long as Zimmer isn't coming in with the standard run first pound it offense I would be fairly happy. I hope we take a look at Jay as well though.

 

If Zimmer is worried about becoming the head coach of a team where one hand would be tied behind his back, he certainly will not have interest in the Dolphins. With Ireland as the teams GM, Zimmer would soon realize that not just one of his hands is tied, but both of them.
Based on the concerns expressed about ownership by Parcells to Zimmer in the past, I would have to think that Parcells, if asked, would advise Zimmer not to take the job with the Dolphins. I believe Parcells left last year because of his disapproval of the way Ross was running the organization.

 

Well if one thinks about it, Daboll could be left in place as Offensive Coordinator, and it would make some sense to do so as the offense did show signs of life after gm #7 or so, Bush and Marshall did have great yrs and Moore came off of the scrap heap to be productive.

Not saying keep Moore as the starting Qb outright, just why change the system?

 

Yes baby!!.

 

Another coordinator with no head coaching experience? I'm not sure how anyone could get excited about that. After losing out on a top head coach in Jeff Fisher, perhaps Ross should just throw a dart at a wall of names.

 

Yea, why change the system when it worked so well? Perhaps because the Dolphins the Dolphins ended the season 6-10 against one of the easiest schedules in the entire NFL.

The entire coaching staff needs to be replaced and that includes Daboll.

 

I diassagree with your philosophies on how to hire a head coach...It shouldn't be about what side of the ball your from..Its about the man.

 

I could get on board with this.

 

Thank god, for a moment there I thought I was going to hear the "season ticket holder...blah blah blah.." spiel again, good to see you've moved on.

 

I wouldn't mind if he were the some of the best things about Parcells without some of the worst...

I believe he is a good man, with standards and morals to reach people in the right way...His passion is excitable, if he gets his own team he will die for it..

 

Eh, Zimmer is due tbh, of course I'd prefer Fisher, but that does not appear to be in the cards.

Neither is Zimmer, as I'd imagine the Bucs would take a crack at him as well.