In his seventh season as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Zimmer will run into the legendary quarterback in a Tampa Bay uniform for the first time at Raymond James Stadium. The Buccaneers are a 6½-point favorite.
But perhaps Zimmer, who calls Minnesota’s defensive plays, can figure out a way to rattle Brady the way he did on Oct. 6, 2013, when he was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator. The Bengals were underdogs at home but rose up to hold Brady’s New England Patriots to just two field goals in a 13-6 win.
Brady completed 18 of 38 passes for 197 yards with one interception and was sacked four times in one of the most uninspiring outings of his 21-year career. In Brady’s 295 regular-season and 41 career playoff starts, that was the fourth-fewest points his team ever has scored, and his completion percentage that day of 47.4 remains tied for his sixth worst.
“I do remember that game vividly,” said Vikings co-defensive coordinator and Zimmer’s son, Adam Zimmer, who was then a Bengals defensive assistant. “I remember it started raining in the fourth quarter when we had the lead, and I wanted it to keep raining harder so he couldn’t go down and score on us.”
Adam Zimmer said the Vikings are mostly looking at Tampa Bay film since the Buccaneers run a different offense than Brady did when he was with the Patriots from 2000-19. But he didn’t deny that the Vikings can look at that game and “draw parallels of how you affect the quarterback and how Brady reacts to some of the stuff we do.”
A key to the Bengals’ success that day was their ability to apply pressure on Brady. In his career, Brady is 22-14 in regular-season and playoff games when he has been sacked four or more times for a winning percentage of .611. In all other career games, his winning percentage is .780.
“We can’t get frustrated if we don’t sack him, but we’ve got to make him feel us, and that’s the most important thing: You’ve got to make him feel us being around him,” said Vikings co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson. “If you just let him sit back there in a rocking chair, he’s going to eat us alive.”
Patterson noted that Brady “gets the ball out fast” regardless, so any extra time he has could be lethal.
The Vikings have spent the week devising a scheme to try to pressure Brady, which could include a fair share of blitzes. Whatever they’re planning to do, defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo isn’t saying.
“Like the saying goes, a great magician never reveals his secrets,” he said. “It’s kind of the same way for our pass-rush plan. I think we have something that, obviously they’re going to do their best to stop us. But I think we’re getting in a flow, getting in a rhythm, and we’ll have a good plan for Sunday.”
It’s much easier said than done. While Mike Zimmer’s teams have been known for their ability to pressure passers, the Vikings’ defense isn’t that similar to those of past seasons. They rank just 23rd in the NFL this season with an average of 1.8 sacks per game, which is the same ranking they have in total defense. And they don’t have star pass rusher Danielle Hunter, out all season because of a neck injury.
On Sunday, the Vikings won’t have star linebacker Eric Kendricks, either. He will miss his second straight game with a calf injury. And Brady will be going against a young group of cornerbacks that has had its share of ups and downs.
“It’s important to get pressure on all the quarterbacks, but there’s different ways to do it,” Mike Zimmer said. “(Brady is) very, very good, he’s very smart, extremely accurate, sees things really well. We’re just going to have to out and play the best we can.”
Zimmer has faced Brady twice since that 2013 game with much less success. The Patriots won at Minnesota 30-7 in 2014 and at home, 24-10, in 2018. Brady completed a combined 67.9 percent of his passes and was sacked just once in those games.
But Zimmer has managed to rattle Brady before, and that’s more than many can say.
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December 12, 2020 at 06:00AM
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Vikings' Mike Zimmer has rattled Tom Brady before; he'll try to do it again Sunday - Bemidji Pioneer
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