The new Cowboys defensive coordinator will push his players. Some won’t like it, but the results speak for themselves.
Mike Zimmer wanted to clear up a couple things Wednesday. First, even though he and Deion Sanders are “unbelievably great friends,” he didn’t actually spend any real time on his staff at Jackson State or Colorado despite anything Coach Prime may have implied. Just talked on the phone, if pretty much every day.
One other thing.
He’s not a jerk.
“I think if I’m such a jerk,” he said, “I wouldn’t be here.”
Normally I don’t like to tell a coach where he’s gone wrong at least until he calls a fake punt inside his own 30 in his debut. Like, for instance, the guy to Zimmer’s left on the podium Wednesday. But this was the wrong play by the new hire. Rather than chafe at stories depicting him as combative, temperamental, even combustible, he should have leaned into it at Wednesday’s presser.
Maybe he should have shown up in a goalie mask, a chainsaw on his hip. Might have played well with a fan base wanting to see heads roll.
Nearly a month after yet another embarrassing playoff exit, the mood outside the Star remains ugly. Not just the usual fire and brimstone concerning Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy, either. The loss to the Packers colored the perception of nearly everything Dan Quinn had accomplished in his three seasons as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, to the point that fans didn’t seem sorry to see him go.
Critics questioned Quinn’s concepts of safeties masquerading as linebackers and an ongoing inability to detain anyone traveling by ground. A complaint about penalties may have sprung from a certain sportswriter’s keyboard, as well.
Fair or not, the consensus seems to be that a talented team never gets out of first gear in the playoffs because McCarthy and Quinn, a couple of nice guys, are just, well, too nice.
This isn’t just the opinion of the rank-and-file. Michael Irvin nearly blew an aorta in a video after the Packer debacle. Just last week, Emmitt Smith said on radio row at the Super Bowl that he’s “about done.”
“Nobody wants to fight no more,” he said of the current Cowboys. “And everybody’s patting them on the back.”
As if hackles weren’t raised high enough already, DeMarcus Lawrence shattered the hackles record last week. On ESPN’s First Take, the defensive end said the Cowboys lost because they were “burnt out.” He then compounded his error by saying that, because the Cowboys remained mostly healthy throughout the season, they played too much.
“The legs get tired,” he said.
Oh, yes, he did.
Chris Canty subsequently went on a two-minute rant on ESPN radio, blaming not only Lawrence, a team leader, for saying such a thing out loud, but McCarthy for creating the culture that essentially led to it. Concluded by saying he was embarrassed that he’d ever even played for the Cowboys and that the current group is nowhere close to contending because of such leadership.
For the record: With the possible exception of Dak, no Cowboys player is more accountable than Lawrence. His motor never stops. My guess, based on conversations with people who know him, was that, grasping for an explanation in an uncomfortable setting, he said something he’ll regret until the Cowboys do something about it on the field.
This is no defense of what Lawrence said — because it was indefensible — but you must also realize that previous generations of football players always believe the current generation is soft. This “get-off-my-lawn” dimension dates to leather helmets.
Emmitt echoed the sentiment when he welcomed the “old-school tradition” that Zimmer surely will bring to the Cowboys.
Dallas Morning News’ Cowboys beat writers break down Mike Zimmer’s introductory press conference
For his part, Zimmer tried hard Wednesday to prove he wouldn’t burst into flame if you lit a match around him. He cited a player who couldn’t stand to be yelled at or criticized in front of teammates. Zimmer learned to pull him aside and whisper in his ear. The sensitive soul became a productive player.
A great example of his evolution, too, but no one was buying the idea that one of the fieriest coaches in Jerry Jones’ tenure has suddenly mellowed. His defensive style may have changed over the years, but the essence of the man remains.
Asked what hasn’t changed about him since he left the Cowboys in 2006, he said, “Competitiveness . . . Being technique-oriented, being fundamental. Disciplined. Those are the kinds of things that get me . . .”
Pause.
“Grouchy.”
At the risk of sounding like the old man the mirror suggests, the Cowboys could use a little grouchiness. They need someone even a diva like Deion loved specifically because Zimmer held him accountable. Great players always want to be coached up, Zimmer said. He concedes he was “probably too hard” on a lot of his charges, but there’s always been a reason for it. He wasn’t just out to be “the mean guy,” as he put it.
Winning is hard, and sometimes, no matter how talented you are, you need to be pushed. Zimmer will push. He will also curse, scream, sizzle, boil, implode. Some won’t like it. Maybe most. But the results speak for themselves. The Cowboys could use some of that. Welcome back, Zim. Here’s hoping you haven’t evolved too much.
