Rhodes is killing 2019

here is your answer VP. In my opinion, Zimmer has changed the philosophy on Defense this year

He has gone to a base defense, with very little (relatively speaking, from his prior seasons where he called it aggressively) blitzing and bringing extra pressure

My belief is this.... I believe that Zimmer knows that his defense was younger back then when he called it aggressively, therefore Rhodes and others could stay with the quicker/younger opponents...... at the same time, I think he realized that this season his best philosophical approach, since his defenders are relatively older/lost a step in some cases, is to play more of a prevent/bend-don't-break defense..... which allows his (relatively) aging vets that he's (too) loyal to, to be able to play situational/smart football and pick their spots. That's what their strength is this season.... using that experience/smarts from playing in the same system and basically same group of guys for so many years.....

in other words, I think Zimmer resigned to the fact that his (relatively) aging defenders wouldn't be able to stay with the younger/faster opponents all the time, and he knew we would give up yardage this season as a result. So with that in mind, he has called more conservative calls where we aren't getting beat over the top, but giving up the underneath stuff way more than we did in the past. And then having his defense tighten up in the red zone.... where there isn't as much space to operate for the (relatively) younger/faster opponents.....