Dallas City News

It has been about a week since training camp began for the Dallas Cowboys and a lot of what we are seeing from them is the same in terms of characters involved. The primary players of the team have been well-known for a few years now which is why it is fair to believe in the overall roster. As is the case with every year, the Cowboys did have some changes that are new here in 2024 and one of them is the person running the defense, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.

Zimmer is obviously not a new name to the Cowboys as he has previously held this post. But that was about 20 years ago and a lot has changed about him, the Cowboys in general and the players involved since then. It was always going to be fascinating to see how the defense took to him given the success they have had over the last three years and that Zimmer has a reputation for being a bit, um, disciplined.

DeMarcus Lawrence, the longest-tenured member on the defensive side of the ball, and tied for the longest on the team in general with fellow 2014 draftee Zack Martin, met with the media following Wednesday’s practice and was specifically asked a couple of things about Zimmer. You can watch his entire session at this link.

Much of what we have been interested in is what things are going to look like schematically as far as Mike Zimmer is concerned. We are particularly interested in what this will look like as far as how it differentiates from previous defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

Tank was asked that very question.

“With the schemes over the last couple of years with DQ it was more about speed, using our speeds to set up linemen. More this year with Coach Z it’s really… details. Working on our details, our fundamentals and staying in our gap. Controlling our space. We work our speed through that.”

It is easy to take this and assume that the Cowboys are in fact more disciplined and that this was a quality they were lacking under Quinn; however, that feels a bit disingenuous to Quinn given that the scheme he deployed was successful far more often than it was not.

Still though, perhaps this is the right course of action for this team at this moment in time. Playoff results would certainly suggest that given that Dallas has been a bit too focused on speed at times and in the process have been run over by the likes of San Francisco and Green Bay.

As noted, Zimmer has a reputation of being a bit surly so his personality and how it meshes with the team has been something that people want to see as well. Lawrence was asked about this and offered more high praise.

“He really cares about ball, man. It’s actually dope to have a coach that is not going to settle for nothing else but the best out of you. You wish you had that in all your coaches and we glad we’ve got it in Z.”

Again, this doesn’t have to be read as something like Dan Quinn settling for less or whatever the case. Lawrence is not that kind of person and we have never known him to be. But while the sample size is small, the early returns on Mike Zimmer’s scheme and personality are positive.