Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Zimmer and Payton worked together in Dallas from 2003-05 under Bill Parcells when Zimmer was the defensive coordinator and Payton called offensive plays as the assistant head coach/quarterbacks and assistant head coach/passing game coordinator.
“Sean and I worked together. My kids babysat his kids,” Zimmer said as he reminisced. “We actually talked a lot about our kids and families.
“And I asked him about Latavius and Teddy and Nick Easton, Marcus … we talk different things,” Zimmer added. “Sean likes to talk anyway, so we talked about what they’ve been doing in training camp and what I’ve been doing in training camp.”
Friday’s contest will be the first preseason game for both teams, who have become quite familiar with one another in recent years.
The pair opened the 2017 season on ESPN’s Monday Night Football as Minnesota came away with a 29-24 win.
That set the stage for the “Minneapolis Miracle” in January of 2018, which came in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
New Orleans then got the best of the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Week 8 of the 2018 season in a 30-20 Vikings loss.
Zimmer said he has a plan for his starting offense and defense, but noted he will likely hold “one or two” veteran guys out against the Saints.
“We’ve kind of set the playing time. It won’t be a whole lot, but what I want them to do is be efficient,” Zimmer said. “Just go out there, do the things that we’ve been doing and practicing.
“[The offense will] get some different looks defensively, and that’s just how it goes,” Zimmer added. “It’s all about executing the techniques that we’ve been working on and then being able to adjust over the course of the game because that’s what regular-season games are.”