Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Zimmer said Tuesday on a conference call that he thought Rhodes and the rest of Minnesota’s secondary showed improvement Monday night in Seattle. (The 226 passing yards allowed by the Vikings against the Seahawks was the lowest in a recent four-game stretch).
Zimmer then expanded on that subject Wednesday afternoon, and spoke about the role a coach plays when a player is struggling on the field. Zimmer spoke in general terms and not just directly about Rhodes.
“What we’re trying to do is, in every one of the guys that have had a bad game or they’re struggling, is try to get back to the basics, try to get them to focus on whether [the problem] is their footwork or their hand placement or their route depth or whatever it is,” Zimmer said. “[We look at], ‘Am I losing at the top of the route, if I’m a receiver or DB, am I losing at the top of the route, am I losing at the bottom of the route, at the beginning of the route, where’s my body position?’
“I think all of those things become a factor. You just try to analyze it. We did a lot of that last week, especially in the pass defense. Quite honestly, there was a lot of really good things in the pass defense,” Zimmer added. “Now obviously, not the busted coverage that we had, but a lot of the other things I saw improvement. We’ve got to get back and do that little bit more with the front guys and we’ve got to continue to stay harping on the back-end guys of the technique that we want them to play and get back to being us.
“I’ve gone through this thing 100 times, looking at where we were before the six-week period and where we are the last six weeks and trying to get back to doing the things we can do,” Zimmer continued. “If we do that, we got a good football team in every phase, not just defense, but the offense and special teams.”
Through their first six games, the Vikings didn’t allow a 300-yard passer and gave up an average of 218.8 passing yards per game. Minnesota has allowed an average of 267 passing yards per game over its past six contests that have featured quarterbacks such as Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson.
The Vikings are expected to see the quarterback quartet of David Blough, Philip Rivers, Aaron Rogers and Mitchell Trubisky in the final quarter of the season.
Minnesota sits at 8-4 and controls its own destiny in the playoff field, as the Vikings would be a Wild Card team at worst if they win out.
Rhodes said he’s going to do all he can in December to assure that the Vikings are playing in January.
“I just feel like it’s a switch. I’ve been working my tail off — I’ve always worked my tail off — and everyone knows that on this team, family and friends, the fans,” Rhodes said. “I work each and every day on my craft. I’m there in coverage, I’m just not getting the ball.
“But, I’m a fighter. At the end of the day, that switch is going to flip,” Rhodes added. “Right now, I’m going to continue to play my ball and work on the mental errors and the penalties. Hopefully, the flip switches.”