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MINNEAPOLIS – "He was nervous before this game," said Ann Zimmer, shortly after I entered the coach's private locker room at US Bank Stadium, and before we were properly introduced. "That's right, he was really worried, he was messy."
His son, Mike, the 62-year-old coach of the Minnesota Vikings, shook his head and frowned.
"C & # 39; each week, "Zimmer insisted, dismissing the story as one of his menacing defensive line men losing a block in the trenches. I am still a nervous wreck. "
I had no doubt that Zimmer had entered the first game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, feeling too stressed to be blessed; The man, by his own admission, experiences nausea about to vomit before each party that it entails. However, after a 24-16 victory in which the Vikings' defense forced four turnovers and the growing legend of Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, Zimmer would at least have a slight satisfaction for a well-executed gameplay.
Zimmer, however, did not have it. Sitting in the small room with his mother and two of his children – his son, the trainer of the linebackers of the Vikes and his daughter Corri – he swore that the brain battle between him and the coach of the Niners Kyle Shanahan had been a draw. , the best.
"They have made us unbalanced," Zimmer said. "I had to make adjustments on the fly, changes to the foreheads and blankets, we suffered injuries and had to move guys in. Honestly, I thought they had done a good job." Garoppolo) made some very good shots, Shanahan made some nice calls, there was a lot of diversions, he quickly got out of the pocket quarter, got into the race and made some games, we try to cover him, and the next thing you know, a guy running us, it took a bit of time to adjust, and then we had to readjust ourselves. "
Maybe Zimmer, one of the sport's leading defensive strategists, was simply modest. Perhaps he still has post-traumatic stress after the lashes that ended the Vikings season last January after the Minnesota Miracle. Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles were eliminated in 38-7 NFC. Game blowout.
Zimmer is likely to have stayed the course: Shanahan is indeed one of the most creative players in the NFL, and this five-game winning streak that Garoppolo unleashed at the start of the season was not a fluke. . On Christmas Eve, Garoppolo destroyed the fearsome Jacksonville Jaguars defense so accurately that Niners fans – some of whom had already called him "Jimmy Jesus" – began singing "MVP" late in a victory. 44-33.
More than eight months later, Garoppolo finally had the first loss of the NFL as a starter, dropping his career record to 7-1. He completed only 15 of 33 passes for 261 yards and one TD, launched three interceptions (including a choice of six) and was fired three times. I'm not a big fan of the smuggling rankings in one game – full disclosure, I hate it – but if we have to: By going into this game, Garoppolo's worst effort in this regard was an 82.4; Sunday, the score of a match was 45.1.
The Vikings suppressed a large number of intermediate passes on which Garoppolo had been so precise in his previous efforts, betting that he would not punish them on deep balls as opportunities presented themselves. They changed their covers and their foreheads and cast as many glances as they could on the fifth-year passer, which the Niners acquired last October in an exchange with the Patriots – and signed a 137.5 million deal dollars over five years. February.
"Zim has been in this league for a long time," said veteran George Iloka, who signed with the Vikings last August after being released by the Cincinnati Bengals, where Zimmer worked as a defensive coordinator from 2008 to 13. "Marquez my words – no matter what team we play, it will always try to make them do what they do best, if it makes sense, they beat you in a way that you You're not used to it, your hat to them, but he's going to mix it up and give you different looks, and even the veteran quarterbacks sometimes have trouble with that. "
And to be honest: Garoppolo, who spent four seasons saving Tom Brady in New England, had to face one of those Sundays. Losing his first start since December 13, 2013, when Towson State eliminated his East Panthers, Garoppolo was frequently harassed by Minnesota defensive linemen, one of whom won a psychological victory after the match.
"As the game progresses, you have to put pressure on him," said Danielle Hunter. "You see that he's getting scared."
Zimmer, however, insisted he was the one who was shaken. The bootlegs, misdirected calls and backhands that Shanahan relied on last December were part of the Niners attack, and as long as the Vikings are at the back of the pack, defending those games has not been easy. . .
"I started doing some things to try to help them, keeping the ends vertically on the ground," Zimmer said. "Then they ran on us and we had to adjust ourselves again – it was a good game of cat and mouse."
And as Garoppolo discovered, playing against the Vikings – a team of human mouse traps – leaves you with very little room for error.
It did not help Garoppolo that his new Minnesota counterpart, Kirk Cousins, had a smooth, efficient and impressive debut (20 of 36, 244 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions). After six years in Washington, Cousins signed a three-year, $ 84 million deal with the Vikings last March because he felt he was giving him the best chance of winning. He had his share of silver moments Sunday, posting an exquisite touch on a pair of passes, a 22-yard backhand Stefon Diggs who gave Minnesota a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter and 11 yards to Kyle. Rudolph who made it 24-6 with 4:22 left in the third.
"That," says Rudolph, "that's why we pay him a lot of money."
That said, a large number of Vikings defenders earned their salary on Sunday, led by defenseman Harrison Smith, who picked up halfback Alfred Morris from the Minnesota goal line. In the first half, a bag and a quarterback were in a hurry, and the contract was concluded with an interception in San Francisco 95 seconds before the end of the match.
Cornerback Xavier Rhodes also clinched a Garoppolo pass, as did Mike Hughes, a first pick in the center's Florida draft in 2018. In his first NFL game, Hughes had a welcome moment in the NFL, intercepting a ball in the flat and running 28 yards for a touchdown with 10:41 remaining in the third quarter.
In all fairness, it was not Garoppolo's fault. The pick-six was clearly the result of a lack of communication, the wide Kendrick Bourne being later responsible for the wrong course. And on the game before In the six selections, which placed Minnesota 17-3, Garoppolo had thrown a superb deep ball for the George Kittle fin, who ran to the left of the field, but dropped the ball, screwed, crushing an opportunity who could have been touched.
Given all the mistakes, against a team as powerful as the Vikings, it would have been understandable that the Niners blew themselves up. However, San Francisco made his comeback in the match, Garoppolo collapsing into a potential sack and binding with wide Dante Pettis on a 22-yard touchdown pass at 31 seconds from the end of the third quarter. really a really awesome game, "said Zimmer) to narrow the gap to 24-13, then make it a one-game possession over Robbie Gould's 22-yard placement with 8:09 remaining in the fourth .
For Zimmer, it was very … very good – as his mother attests – stressful. At the start of the second period, he lost one of his first turns, Trae Waynes, as a result of a knee injury, which forced him to launch younger defensive positions (including Hughes) in positions that he had not anticipated. That said, the Niners lost their main major threat, the swift big-format Marquise Goodwin, to a quadruple effort early in the second quarter and saw two The right-hand guards (Mike Person and Joshua Garnett) are foot-injured, forcing right tackle Mike McGlinchey to spend most of the second half in a position he's never played at level.
And Shanahan was still recovering from the rift The ACL was suffering eight days earlier in the practice of former Viking half Jerick McKinnon, whom the Niners had signed in March for a $ 30-million contract on four years. problems for opposing defenses.
If Shanahan feels better, count Zimmer among those who believe in the hype surrounding Garoppolo and the Niners, despite Sunday's results.
"I'm not in the field of prediction," said Zimmer, "but I think they're going to be a good football team – I really think so." They're physically ahead of the curve. I think that (Garoppolo) throws a nice ball and they have a lot to do for them. "
Despite all their talent, the Vikings consider Zimmer, who is in his fifth year as head coach, after a long career as an accomplished but often neglected assistant, as a valuable asset.
"It has separated us from a lot of teams over the past four years," said Rudolph. "He's really good at it, look at the fourth and the last."
The game in question: With 2:54 remaining and an eight-point lead, the Vikings had indeed a fourth and a 41, and Zimmer sent his offensive field. Cousins then implemented the mandatory tally in an attempt to provoke a Niners defender in an offside penalty – and defensive end Solomon Thomas being fought off for a neutral zone offense, allowing Minnesota to extend the race out of the clock.
Rudolph said, "Things like that, at the end of the game, we're made for that, we want to keep the game tight and play football, and when we get into situations like that, we're always loans. "
Of course, it is also possible that Zimmer is ready to participate on the game in question. If Thomas had not jumped, would the cousins have taken a picture and performed a play?
"Maybe," Zimmer said, leaning on what was probably her first smile after a long first Sunday of the 2018 season. A few steps away, Ann Zimmer recognized the unusual change of expression of her son, acquiescing in his apparent approval.
Then his son smiles even more widely.
"I will never say it," he said.
Follow Michael Silver on Twitter @mikesilver.
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