Cousins sets record straight about relationship with Zimmer

No problem, understandable. Here's both parts saved to PDF: file.io/mptXF7ffPatc -- the link should work for 2 weeks.



It's a story because one of the selling points of the new regime is that they're going to get more out of the same players by managing them differently -- better injury prevention and load management, better schemes (especially on offense, but also on defense compared to Zimmer's failed attempt to do some of the tite front stuff and play 2 high the last year or two), and a better culture in terms of teamwork, collaboration and playing with confidence in crunch time.

That shouldn't really be the whole story (they've also done a lot to turn over the depth and improve the bottom half of the roster), but that's the part that any casual fan will notice -- they kept almost all of the same top players, so if the result is any different the new coaches / culture will get a lot of credit.



This gets discussed in the article by Leber and Newman. The point Leber makes particularly is that the players on defense had to be cautious not to make mistakes, so they weren't "playing fast". Leber contrasts Zimmer's approach not just to a young and progressive McVay type but to (75 year-old) Wade Phillips, who he played under in San Diego nearly 20 years ago.

The problem with Zimmer wasn't just that he was too strict or demanding or whatever, but that he didn't get the most out of his players. I think he was a good coach in many ways, and a great coach in some ways (for the defensive scheme, especially his pressure packages on 3rd downs), but he was really poor at what the soccer people call "man management" -- working with players as individuals and as a group to get them to perform at their best when it's needed most. Carroll, McVay and Belichick would be my short list from the recent NFL for the best "man managers" -- their teams find a way to win, and they have a track record of getting meaningful contributions from unlikely sources (bottom of the roster guys, castoffs from other teams, etc).

Zimmer just wasn't great at that. There were way too many examples of his team falling flat on their face (the "stuffed animals to the slaughter" disaster in Philly 2016, the Lambeau game when the secondary started freelancing later that year, 38-7 in the NFCCG, boatraced by Goff in 2018, the Niners blowout in the 2019 playoffs, etc etc), and not nearly enough examples of upsets, come-from-behind or clutch wins. When he had the horses, with Pro Bowlers at every position on defense, he could get them to perform at a high level. But when he was dealing with average or inferior talent, they really struggled.

The classic line about "Bear" Bryant was that "he could take his’n and beat your’n, then take your’n and beat his’n.” Zimmer fell well short of that.

Remains to be seen if O'Connell will actually be an improvement, but I don't think "eight months later" is too far past the point to still be doing an autopsy on an 8-year era.