Coaching Edge: Mike Zimmer vs. Sean Payton

Sean Payton and his New Orleans Saints face a familiar foe in Mike Zimmer and his Minnesota Vikings. Let's get to know the opposing head coach and understand how he might influence the Vikings vs. Saints NFC Wild Card contest.

Sean Payton and Mike Zimmer are 2-2 in head-to-head competition as head coaches of the Saints and Vikings, respectively.  January is upon us and with it comes the start of the NFL Playoffs. Despite finishing with a stellar 13-3 regular season record, the New Orleans Saints are hosting the Minnesota Vikings in the first round.  Just the third team ever to play the opening weekend of the playoffs while sporting a +.800 record, the Saints are playing some of their finest football of the season and looking to exorcise some of the demons of playoffs past.  Ahead of the pivotal matchup between these two NFC contenders, we will look at head coaches Sean Payton and Mike Zimmer to get a sense for their preferences and proclivities particularly as they relate to this matchup.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer has been in Minnesota since 2014 and boasts an impressive .600 (57-38-1) record.  Zimmer has led his team in 3 playoff appearances, losing his first in a heartbreaker at home to the Seattle Seahawks when then kicker Blair Walsh shanked a 27-yard attempt late in the 4th quarter, down one point, to allow the Seahawks a kneel and the victory. 

© Robert Hanashiro | 2019 Dec 15

The following season, after having won the NFC North with a 13-3 record, Sean Payton led his Saints into Minneapolis and events transpired, also late in the 4th quarter, that bear no need repeating here.  Suffice to say, the Vikings would win their first postseason game under Zimmer’s watch before advancing to the 2017 NFC Championship Game where they were trounced 38-7 by the eventual Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

While this weekend is only Zimmer’s 4th postseason appearance as a head coach, his coaching tenure goes back to the late 1970s and includes a Super Bowl ring in the mid-90s as a then DBs coach with the Dallas Cowboys.  Mike Zimmer is a defensive thoroughbred, having coached every unit of the defense both at the collegiate and professional levels, and prior to landing his first and current head coaching position, he served as the defensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals from 2008 to 2013 under then head coach Marvin Lewis. 

In his first season as the defensive coordinator in Cincinnati, Zimmer presided over a defensive unit that went from allowing almost 350 yards per game (27th in the NFL) in 2007, to allowing 325 yards per game (12th in the NFL) in 2008.  The following year, his defense was the 5th ranked unit in the league, surrendering just over 300 yards of total offense a game.  His units would never fall below the top-half of the league in total defense the rest of his tenure with the Bengals, leading to his last year with the team where his defense was the 4th ranked unit in the league in 2013. 

In succeeding previous Vikings coach Leslie Frazier, Zimmer assumed the role of head coach and de facto defensive coordinator.  He was inheriting a Minnesota defensive unit that was 31st in opponent yards allowed per game, surrendering almost 400 yards per contest, though one which was replete with talent.  Zimmer could immediately work with perennial mainstays, guys the Saints will face this Sunday, to include DE Everson Griffen, LB Anthony Barr, SS Harrison Smith, and CB Xavier Rhodes. 

Zimmer’s talent-over-scheme coaching philosophy which prioritizes personnel over playbook, per se, hastened the team’s return to defensive prominence. In his first season as the head coach, the Vikings finished 14th in total defense.  Minnesota then moved to 10th in team defense in 2015, 3rd in 2016, 2nd in 2017, and 4th in 2018.  This season, finishing 10-6 on the year, Zimmer’s Vikings have regressed back to 14th in total defense and while his unit still features myriad playmakers, to include the likes of LB Eric Kendricks and DE Danielle Hunter (in addition to the above), his crop of CBs has seen some considerable regression this season.    

© Joe Nicholson | 2019 Dec 2

Zimmer’s approach to coaching, heavily influenced by his defensive pedigree, is nuanced to the extent that he is skilled at mixing in disguised blitzes with more conservative zone schemes.  This season, Zimmer’s defense is the 5th ranked team in the league per Football Outsiders proprietary adjusted sack rate statistic which measures the percentage of sacks per opponent pass attempts.  This Sunday, Saints fans would do well to expect that Zimmer will continue to do more of that which has been his team’s identity for the past 5 years—get after the QB early and often and capitalize on turnover opportunities. 

To this end, a pivotal contest within this matchup will be between Saints stalwart tackles Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk and Vikings edge rushers Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter.  This game really will be a battle fought in the trenches with NT Linval Joseph staring down the unenviable prospect of containing the duo of Latavius Murray and Alvin Kamara between the tackles.  LBs Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr will be mixed about between the line of scrimmage and on short and intermediate passing routes in attempts to limit the likes of Michael Thomas, Jared Cook, and Kamara’s utility as a receiver. 

© Chuck Cook | 2019 Dec 16

On the other side of the ball, Kevin Stefanski runs an offense led by signal caller Kirk Cousins, and which features a backfield duo of Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison and the Pro Bowl WR tandem of Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Zimmer and Stefanski are liable to use play action to exploit chunk plays to either of the above-named receivers as well as TE Kyle Rudolph, and a healthier Dalvin Cook will be featured heavily in such an approach.  Dennis Allen’s unit will need to rely heavily on newly minted First Team All Pro LB Demario Davis and the Saints defensive line to spell potential screen and underneath passes thereby limiting the potential for heavy blows down the field as the game progresses. 

The Vikings boast the league’s 6th best rushing attack averaging 133 yards per game, but just the 23rd-ranked offense in terms of passing yards per game.  These statistics are in keeping with the more rudimentary old school ground-and-pound football Zimmer and Stefanski employ.  Contrast this with the Saints 4th ranked total rushing defense and 20th ranked passing defense and the statistical matchup appears favorable for New Orleans. Payton and Saints DC Dennis Allen would be wise to respect a Kirk Cousins who has completed almost 70% of his passes this season for 26 TDs against only 6 interceptions.   Expect to see a healthy dose of man coverage with Janoris “Jackrabbit” Jenkins and Marshon Lattimore blanketing the likes of Diggs and Thielen, with Davis, AJ Klein, and Kiko Alonso accounting for Cook and Rudolph in the intermediate middle of the field.

© Jake Roth | 2019 Dec 15

Payton and Zimmer are mutually .500 when facing each other as the head coach of their respective teams, and not a single one of the 4 meetings was decided by over 11 points.  In their most recent contest, just last October, the Saints prevailed in Minneapolis 30-20, though the box score reveals some curious findings about these two teams with still quite similar complexions a year later.  The Vikings edged out the Saints in time of possession, first downs, and total yards. Damning though, is the Vikings also leading the Saints that night by a single turnover—a margin that played a crucial difference then, as it may well this weekend. 

© Bob Donnan | 2019 Dec 29

It will no doubt be a slog in the bayou between two accomplished and well-respected head coaches.  Will Zimmer’s defense have enough resolve to contain an explosive and ascending Saints offense on the road?  How will the Saints utilize jack-of-all-trades Taysom Hill and will Zimmer have a response to Payton’s legerdemain with a play sheet?   The pundits are heavily favoring the Saints in this one, and you have to think Payton will allow no opportunity for even the potential of any more “miracles” this time around.