Speaker 1: Xes and os with Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: is underway. This is the inaugural role. Look at that
Speaker 1: camera over there. To the addition of Mike Zimmer's exes
Speaker 1: and os, we've got to get a quick shot of
Speaker 1: the voice of popped in here. Right. That's the head coach.
Speaker 1: That's Mike Zimmer, head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. KFA
Speaker 1: N Vikings Radio Network. We welcome you into the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: game this weekend. It's a one o'clock game on KFAM
Speaker 1: and it's into your eighth year as head coach of
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Vikings. So that that's that's just a wonderful accomplishment.
Speaker 1: And I know you know you're trying not to smile,
Speaker 1: but I know you're not in the recognizing wonderful accomplishment
Speaker 1: business specifically in one place. But that has to make
Speaker 1: you feel good. Well, it makes me feel good. If
Speaker 1: we win a Super Bowl, that's that that will make
Speaker 1: me feel good. Um, you know, we're just grinding every
Speaker 1: year and trying to trying to get a little bit better.
Speaker 1: Now now that I've buttered you up, you care to
Speaker 1: share with the audience and he updated Anthony Barr, Christian
Speaker 1: darrisaw related news or that's why we butter you up right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, um, I think barstill has a chance. We'll
Speaker 1: find out. We'll find out a little bit more later
Speaker 1: this week. You know. Deresau is probably probably not be
Speaker 1: ready this week. Yeah. When I say when I say
Speaker 1: Christian with the limited amount of practices that he's had,
Speaker 1: you know, and I mean you've talked about it a
Speaker 1: million times. It's with Christian, you just you wait, get
Speaker 1: him into shape, get him into the spot, make sure
Speaker 1: he knows how to do it, and then maybe roll
Speaker 1: with him. Right Yeah, And you know when you've only
Speaker 1: practiced a few days and then you know, you keep
Speaker 1: having these setbacks. You know, it just continues to linger on.
Speaker 1: So you know, we're gonna have to get him out
Speaker 1: there on the practice field for for a while and
Speaker 1: see if he can hang in there and do it.
Speaker 1: You have a linebacker named Nick Vigil and he's a
Speaker 1: former member of the Cincinnati Bengals. What do we get
Speaker 1: with Vigil now? And maybe if he has to play extensively,
Speaker 1: what do you get with him? You know? Um, I
Speaker 1: was just talking about him today with the coaches and
Speaker 1: he really reminds me a lot of Chad Greenway. He's
Speaker 1: very smart. His personality is the same, the very quick thinkers. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he's a good player. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he understands his role and it understands everybody else's role. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, we're glad we have him. So if Nick
Speaker 1: makes a big play a zach or something, the karate
Speaker 1: kick is that expected. I don't know what his what
Speaker 1: his little style is yet. And then then of course
Speaker 1: he'll get into some form of vodka business and will
Speaker 1: just move on. It's Mike zimmer Head, coach of the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings XS, the os kfam, the Vikings Radio Network,
Speaker 1: and those of you at Vikings dot com. We welcome
Speaker 1: you now them with with your pass rush and Denil
Speaker 1: Hunter obviously ready to play this year. Just overall the
Speaker 1: depth of your pass rush. You feel good about it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. I think with um, with uh dj Wanham,
Speaker 1: who has a lot of versatility, we can do a
Speaker 1: lot of different things with him. With with Griffin um
Speaker 1: and then Sheldon Richardson. I think those kind of combinations,
Speaker 1: but also the combination of weatherly Uh you know, so
Speaker 1: I think I think I like the combination of guys,
Speaker 1: you know, where if they're double team and one guy,
Speaker 1: we have a chance to work on some other areas.
Speaker 1: And then you know you had bar in there and
Speaker 1: and Kendricks and Vigil and some of the you know
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith. Yeah, um, you know we have some versatility
Speaker 1: in the rush game now with when when you beat
Speaker 1: New Orleans in the playoffs and put Everson and Denial inside, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a bold move specifically, you know, with not much
Speaker 1: time to do it. Then it worked to wreck the
Speaker 1: game and you moved on. Did that you know even
Speaker 1: for you doing it as long as you have, did
Speaker 1: that open your eyes at all to to you know,
Speaker 1: maybe do more non obvious things. Because you mentioned DJ
Speaker 1: can play all over the place weather, they probably can
Speaker 1: and and so on. Well, I think what we're trying
Speaker 1: to do, Paul, is look at the skill set of
Speaker 1: the individual players and then look at the opponents and
Speaker 1: their their skill sets and where they're at, and then
Speaker 1: you know, how can we get good matchups where we're
Speaker 1: trying to get good matchups? And also you know, maybe
Speaker 1: it's it's using want them a little bit more as
Speaker 1: a linebacker, and so instead of having four down guys.
Speaker 1: We have three down and a hybrid guy. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of little variations there that we can
Speaker 1: we can kind of do with those guys through through
Speaker 1: all your years, Mike, you know, I'm not exactly sure
Speaker 1: what you did in Dallas, but those those years in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati in here, why have you never had three four
Speaker 1: as a base Why have you generally been a four
Speaker 1: three guy? Well, I did have a three four in
Speaker 1: base in Dallas. My first two years in Dallas we
Speaker 1: were three four one. Coach Parcels came in and I
Speaker 1: think he wanted to change over the second year, but
Speaker 1: we're number one league on defense, so he couldn't do
Speaker 1: it then. So the third year he had us move
Speaker 1: over there to three four, And you know, it brings
Speaker 1: a lot of versatility. You know, I like it. You know,
Speaker 1: you have to have the right kind of personnel. You
Speaker 1: have to have two big outside linebackers, and then you
Speaker 1: have to have some big, thick guys in the middle.
Speaker 1: So then you get to Cincinnati and you run it
Speaker 1: as well as you did there. I mean, just one
Speaker 1: of the league's best defenses year after year, and with
Speaker 1: Gino Atkins and de Montepeco, in the middle, you know,
Speaker 1: than Kevin and Pat Williams here for years and now
Speaker 1: Michael Pierce, Dalvin Tomlinson. I mean that's just so important
Speaker 1: to have your kind of guys in the middle, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's And they're all different, um, you know,
Speaker 1: the Mike, Michael Pierson, Tomlinson are different than Geno Atkins
Speaker 1: and Peco were, um, you know, so you've got to
Speaker 1: kind of figure out, you know, what they're best at
Speaker 1: and kind of move move from there. You know, Sheldon's
Speaker 1: a little bit more like I'm not saying he's Geno Atkins,
Speaker 1: but he's a little bit more like that, a little
Speaker 1: bit more slithery, you know, where the other two guys
Speaker 1: are big, strong, physical guys, and uh you know that
Speaker 1: allows us to um do a few more things with
Speaker 1: some of the some of the guys behind them. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So just just from kind of the Rube standpoint, the
Speaker 1: fan standpoint, looking at it outside, Hunter, Tomlinson, Pierce, say,
Speaker 1: wantum Weatherly, Griffin, whomever. Is it safe to say that, Okay,
Speaker 1: Daniel's going to draw the majority of the doubles, but
Speaker 1: you can't double all of them. So now Pierson, Tomlinson,
Speaker 1: who never have had big sack totals. It'll give them
Speaker 1: a chance to work their way to do different things, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit. Um. You know they're they're run players, really,
Speaker 1: these two guys, UM, I think that's what they kind
Speaker 1: of hold their hat on. We're continually trying to continue
Speaker 1: to work with them on there. But you know, with
Speaker 1: the ends and the linebackers and the safeties, that allows
Speaker 1: us to to generate a little bit more pass rush
Speaker 1: in that way. But you know, in order to do that,
Speaker 1: you got to stop to run first, and that's that's
Speaker 1: basically those two guys's job first is to get the
Speaker 1: run stop so we can rush and pass her. How
Speaker 1: how good your new hunter? UM? You know he's he's
Speaker 1: uh got a good leg, big leg, has some good
Speaker 1: hang time. He'll have some mishits, so you know, we're
Speaker 1: trying to work with consistency on him. And over the
Speaker 1: last X amount of years, did you ever think that
Speaker 1: you would be focusing as much on special teams truly
Speaker 1: as you have? Um, I probably should have a lot more,
Speaker 1: but we we are very very um diligent about um
Speaker 1: who's going to be active on game day based on
Speaker 1: special teams. We're gonna you know about who made the
Speaker 1: who made the club based on special teams, because I
Speaker 1: think it was such a glaring weakness for us last year.
Speaker 1: You know, we have to and Cincinnati has a really
Speaker 1: good special team shooting now. I mean, it's just the preseason,
Speaker 1: and there were some problems coverage wise and special teams
Speaker 1: wise in that Denver game, but it seemed to get
Speaker 1: better or improve for the most part, even though it's preseason.
Speaker 1: You're always looking for improvement. Is that fair? Yeah. And
Speaker 1: one of the things we started doing this year is
Speaker 1: with the whole team, we're watching all the special teams.
Speaker 1: So after the game, the whole team comes in and
Speaker 1: you know, when a guy makes a great player a
Speaker 1: great hit, and they let him know, and you know,
Speaker 1: if a guy gets rocked one time, and then they
Speaker 1: let him know about that too. So we're trying to
Speaker 1: make that a big point of emphasis with the special
Speaker 1: teams this year, whether the return game, making sure that
Speaker 1: you know, we have some more explosive plays in there
Speaker 1: as well. XS and Knows with Mike Zimmer courtesy of
Speaker 1: the Minnesota State Lottery. I'm Paul Allen. A few to close,
Speaker 1: not time for two more, Bob but we're getting close.
Speaker 1: Same question about the punter with DD Westbrook, what do
Speaker 1: you like about him? Well, you know, he's got great speed.
Speaker 1: I like him as a receiver as well. But he's
Speaker 1: got great speed. He catches the ball really well. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, if we do if we do a good
Speaker 1: job with with our hold hold ups and our gunners,
Speaker 1: and we do a good job on defense to to
Speaker 1: create some some situation where we can hold those guys up,
Speaker 1: then I think he's got a chance to make some
Speaker 1: big plays in the return game. With the Bengals offense,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor, he he seems to want to throw a lot.
Speaker 1: Is that true? And how is their offense? Well, I
Speaker 1: though I do think that's true. I think they've got
Speaker 1: a really good quarterback in Burrow. You know he um
Speaker 1: he's very quick, uh to decipher, gets the ball out
Speaker 1: of his hands really quick, so you know, it makes
Speaker 1: it hard to rush. But they've got excellent receivers um
Speaker 1: and uh, you know they're getting the no backs a
Speaker 1: lot of times, they'll be in five wides and um,
Speaker 1: you know, they'll do a lot of things. But they
Speaker 1: got a good running back and mixing two. He's a big,
Speaker 1: hard running back. You know kid that we liked a
Speaker 1: lot coming out when he came out of Oklahoma. Um, so,
Speaker 1: you know, I think they're very explosive. I saw something
Speaker 1: they like, he's the fourth most passing yards for rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback in history the NFL or something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: very very good. Joe Burrow now zero offensive touchdowns in
Speaker 1: the preseason. How good an explosive do you expect the
Speaker 1: offense to be starting against Cincinnati? Well, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's a little bit of uh, you know, we
Speaker 1: have to go out and prove it, just like the
Speaker 1: rest of our football team. Um, you know, I believe
Speaker 1: we have some some really good weapons with our wide receivers. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think, uh, Tyler Conklin does a really
Speaker 1: nice job at tight end. We obviously have Dalvin Cook
Speaker 1: and Madison in the backfield. Um, you know, dal Dalvin
Speaker 1: has looked great in practice. And you know, the more
Speaker 1: of these teams loading up on to stop him, the
Speaker 1: more opens up for Jefferson and Feeling and Conklin and
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, trying to get the ball in
Speaker 1: some of these other guy's hands. Chrit Chris herndon the
Speaker 1: New Viking. He scored on you guys as a rookie
Speaker 1: when you were out there. How does he fit into
Speaker 1: the mix and is there a learning curve just shifting teams,
Speaker 1: offenses whole thing. Yeah, I think there's a learning curve,
Speaker 1: you know, and so we're trying to bring them, bring
Speaker 1: them along as fast as we can. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they'll have a package form as we come come into
Speaker 1: this ball game. But um, you know, he's a guy
Speaker 1: that you know, I haven't seen a lot other than
Speaker 1: on tape in a couple couple of practices. But he's
Speaker 1: done a really nice job with you know, the things
Speaker 1: we've asked and do thus far, with what you saw
Speaker 1: from Herndon or what we don't know about Conklin or
Speaker 1: whatever Titans are going to play. Do you feel they're
Speaker 1: run blocking, that they're willing, you know, that they're willing
Speaker 1: to compliment not only what you want, but what is
Speaker 1: best for the offense. Dalvin, Yeah, I think both of
Speaker 1: them are willing. Uh you know, sometimes sustaining is the
Speaker 1: key to that, and not just being willing blockers, but sustaining.
Speaker 1: Tyler's improved tremendously in the time that he's been here
Speaker 1: in his blocking, and so you know that should be
Speaker 1: a big plus for us. Last one for Mike Zimmer.
Speaker 1: Thirteen years ago, age fifty two, you became defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: for the Cincinnati Bengals for six seasons, subsequently ended up here.
Speaker 1: What do you remember about Paul Brown Stadium? One of
Speaker 1: the one I mean is you got all these new
Speaker 1: stadiums and everything. You go to Sofa later in the year,
Speaker 1: hopefully twice, but you go there later in the year.
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium, it's it's been around forever. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's right on the river. The wind comes off
Speaker 1: off the river a decent amount. They've got terrific fans. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're they're very loud, not as loud
Speaker 1: as our fans are, and probably not as good as
Speaker 1: our fans, but they have good, solid fans, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's gonna be a you know, like
Speaker 1: for the first game, especially the first game you come
Speaker 1: out of the season with fans, it's gonna be it
Speaker 1: should be allowed. Um, very very aggressive crowd. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been in the visitors locker room when we played
Speaker 1: there in the preseason. That was the only time. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a good place and it's a
Speaker 1: beautiful stadium right next to the ballpark there uh the
Speaker 1: great red ballpark yet so um, it'll be It should
Speaker 1: be a fun day. Short drip. No, you can't get
Speaker 1: to Walton, can you? No, I won't be able to
Speaker 1: make it. So you're gonna be in Cincinnati with Zimmer,
Speaker 1: Rage Ranch Luria minutes away or whatever. You're not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to go? Yeah, I can't make it. I
Speaker 1: understand that it's a business trip. How far is Louisville
Speaker 1: from Cincinnati? It's an hour about an hour and in
Speaker 1: Louisville's Churchill Downs And I'm Paul Allen with Mike Zimmer,
Speaker 1: soon to be twenty twenty three, owner of the Kentucky
Speaker 1: Oaks Champion. Her name is Immacula Glory. Good luck this weekend.
Speaker 1: Thanks for the conversation, Hi, Paul, Thank you. More Vikings
Speaker 1: football conversation around the Corner on XES and O's via
Speaker 1: kfa N and the Minnesota Vikings or Radio Network.