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For the Bengals' 27th-ranked defense, the long road back to respectability begins with discipline. "You have to coach tough to be tough," new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said on Wednesday. "You have to have that mentality that this is the line in the sand, and we're not letting the guys cross it. "I'm big on technique. I want to make sure guys do the things we're asking them to do — have their hands in the right place and their feet in the right place — do it right and play hard all the time." Discovery period: Zimmer will spend the next several weeks immersed in film study and player evaluation. "I know they've got some good, young players on the back end (secondary) and quite a few linebackers," he said. "Everything's an open slate. Let's start and go from what I see on the field, see how they are professionally, how they are as far as their passion for the game, and how bad they want to win."
Talking about schemes: Zimmer knows the 4-3 defense well, but he ran the 3-4 scheme in Dallas under Bill Parcells from 2003-06 before moving to Atlanta for one season. "I've always said this: 'You've got 11 guys. Put 'em out there,' " Zimmer said. "The scheme really doesn't matter. It's how the players fit and play within the scheme. "If the best thing for us is to play two down linemen and nine DBs, it doesn't matter to me. We'll just figure out what's best with the personnel we have and the best way we can do it, and we'll go about it." 'A good fit': Zimmer's friendship with head coach Marvin Lewis dates to the early 1980s when both were college assistants — Lewis at Idaho State and Zimmer at Weber State. "My first year as a coordinator in Dallas (2000), we didn't play the run very good," Zimmer said. "So I visited Marvin in Baltimore — our philosophies were very similar — and then we became pretty good against the run after that. "It's a good fit for me because I think I can help this franchise. If we can get the guys to do what we ask them to do, we'll be OK. I know this is a tough division. It'll be a tough test, but that's why we're here." Dallas parallel: Zimmer spent 13 years with Dallas (1994-2006), the final seven as coordinator. His 2003 defense led the NFL at 253.5 yards allowed per game. That's his goal for the Bengals. "We'll keep trying to build them up about what we expect and how we can change the culture and fix this or fix that," he said. "It was very much like that after my first year in Dallas. Everybody was saying how terrible we were on defense. From that point on, we were pretty good. Hopefully, I can take the same approach we did that year. "It taught me that if you can get all the guys playing on the same page, doing things right, and they care about winning and care about doing what you want them to do, then you've got a chance to be pretty good." Getting it right: Zimmer becomes the third defensive coordinator in six seasons for Cincinnati after Leslie Frazier (2003-04) and Chuck Bresnahan (2005-07). "I haven't gotten this right once before," head coach Marvin Lewis said. "Leslie is a fine coach. The way I envisioned things unfolding, they just didn't unfold that way. That was no fault of Leslie's. It was my fault. Now I'm doing this again. "It was obvious we needed to make a change. We needed to have fresh life, new life." Added Zimmer: "Hopefully, (Lewis) gets it right this time." Bottom line: "You've got to have players, but they have to be well-coached," Zimmer said. "In my opinion, all of the good players want to be coached. They want discipline. They want all those things that make them better players. "If they respect your knowledge of the game and what you can help them with, then they'll go full speed and all the way for you." Dayton Daily News http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/bengals/2008/01/16/ddn011708bengals.html |
