The Minnesota Vikings’ defensive backs heard head coach Mike Zimmer’s game plan heading into Saturday’s game against the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings chose not to listen to it.
Zimmer wanted top cornerback Xavier Rhodes to follow receiver Jordy Nelson for the entire game, but the Vikings corners decided on their own they would stick to their respective sides of the field.
At first, Rhodes didn’t want to talk about it after the game. But then he told The Star Tribune that the players decided Zimmer’s plan was a bad one. In essence, they went rogue on their coach.
“A matter of fact, forget it,” Rhodes said. “We felt as a team, as players, we came together and we felt like we’d never done that when we played against the Packers. [We] as DBs felt like we could handle [Nelson]. That’s how we felt as DBs — that we could stay on our side and cover him. In the beginning, we’d always played against them and played our sides, so that’s what we as DBs went with.”
It didn’t work. Nelson torched the Vikings for nine catches (on 11 targets) for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the Packers victory. But in the second half, with Rhodes on Nelson exclusively, the receiver was held to two catches for 9 yards.
“That’s what he was supposed to do the whole game,” Zimmer said. “Someone decided they wouldn’t do that.”
Coaches coach and players play — isn’t that the old saying? This is a shocking breaking of ranks by the players in just the latest in a meltdown of a season. How in the world did this happen? Zimmer said he caught wind of it on the sideline before the half.
“In the first half when Terence Newman came over and said something to me like ‘I can cover this guy, let me have him,'” Zimmer said, “I said, ‘Do what you’re supposed to do.'”
They apparently did not. Some of the Vikings’ collapse has been because of bad luck — injuries mostly, but also Friday’s insane flight delay on an Appleton tarmac — but this latest incident is all on the players involved.
Zimmer wanted top cornerback Xavier Rhodes to follow receiver Jordy Nelson for the entire game, but the Vikings corners decided on their own they would stick to their respective sides of the field.
At first, Rhodes didn’t want to talk about it after the game. But then he told The Star Tribune that the players decided Zimmer’s plan was a bad one. In essence, they went rogue on their coach.
“A matter of fact, forget it,” Rhodes said. “We felt as a team, as players, we came together and we felt like we’d never done that when we played against the Packers. [We] as DBs felt like we could handle [Nelson]. That’s how we felt as DBs — that we could stay on our side and cover him. In the beginning, we’d always played against them and played our sides, so that’s what we as DBs went with.”
It didn’t work. Nelson torched the Vikings for nine catches (on 11 targets) for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the Packers victory. But in the second half, with Rhodes on Nelson exclusively, the receiver was held to two catches for 9 yards.
“That’s what he was supposed to do the whole game,” Zimmer said. “Someone decided they wouldn’t do that.”
Coaches coach and players play — isn’t that the old saying? This is a shocking breaking of ranks by the players in just the latest in a meltdown of a season. How in the world did this happen? Zimmer said he caught wind of it on the sideline before the half.
“In the first half when Terence Newman came over and said something to me like ‘I can cover this guy, let me have him,'” Zimmer said, “I said, ‘Do what you’re supposed to do.'”
They apparently did not. Some of the Vikings’ collapse has been because of bad luck — injuries mostly, but also Friday’s insane flight delay on an Appleton tarmac — but this latest incident is all on the players involved.
