Quote:Mike Zimmer runs a 4-3 base front on the Vikings. Often 4-2-5 in Nickel situations.

 

It's not a typical 4-3 scheme like Gus and crew ran here though. It's exotic, they blitz a lot and you rarely ever know who's coming or dropping. They also play a heavy Man Coverage.

 

You don't have to run a 3-4 to be creative on Defense.

 

This Defense is basically set to run a similar Defense like Zimmer's. You just need a good coach in here as the DC to run it.

 

  Along the lines of what you mentioned,   Mike ZImmer does a tremendous job with the Double A gap blitz packages he uses.    Having athletic LBs like Erik Kendricks and Anthony Barr certainly helps a great deal.    But that scheme often confuses the opposition.     The outside blitzes mixed in are also another ingredient that causes plenty of problems from the Offense.   More than anything,   the two games against the Vikings last season led to Joe Lombardi being fired as Lions OC because of the impact the Vikings blitzes had on the games and Matthew Stafford's health.  

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