FRISCO, Texas – The Detroit Lions got out to a fast start against the Cowboys on Sunday, and already down some of his best playmakers, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer admitted he may have tried to change things too quickly.
"I probably panicked on some calls early because [Detroit] hit us with some things early," Zimmer said. "And so I changed up a little bit, probably a little too soon."
The way the game went, it felt like no matter what Zimmer and the Cowboys defense tried to do wouldn't have worked. Detroit had a field day on offense, scoring 47 points and 492 yards of total offense. When things have gone downhill for Dallas' defense, it feels like an avalanche and that was the case again on Sunday.
"When we've been bad, it's like it just steamrolls," Zimmer said. "It goes bad, bad, bad, bad… a lot of it comes down to eye discipline, guys running to get somewhere, trying to get somewhere fast when they don't need to be."
Among the many things the defense will have to work on during the bye week and the rest of the season is tackling, as the Cowboys are one of the worst teams in the NFL in missed tackles this season. In Zimmer's eyes, missed tackles aren't a product of just one player.
"One guy can't make the tackle all the time, we got to get more hats on the ball." Zimmer said.
The natural follow up question there is: How do you get more hats on the ball?
"The first thing is we got to get off the blocks," Zimmer said. "Play the block… if you've got a half man advantage in your alignment, you have got to win that way, you can't just be in a half man advantage and be locked down."
Part of trying to gain that advantage is stopping the run, which the Cowboys have not done well to start the season. They've allowed 4.5 yards per carry to their opponents this season, who run the ball on over 50% of their snaps against the Dallas defense. And when you're unable to stop the run, it makes things harder for your defense as a whole.
"When it goes bad like that, it leads to other areas where you're getting extra guys in the box, and then you're getting the trick plays and the over routes…" Zimmer said. "That is paramount, that we get the run stopped."
Sure, Dallas has had some unfortunate injury luck with veteran contributors like Eric Kendricks and Micah Parsons missing time which could help things defensively, but injuries are part of the game, and Zimmer recognizes that as well as the importance of making sure the guys that are available are prepared.
"We need to develop the guys that are there, we got to get them going," Zimmer said. "There's no guarantee that somebody else isn't going to get hurt in the next week… those are things that are going to happen throughout the course of the year, but when we do get it back it'll be very helpful, obviously."
Combine the injury bug with giving up 167 points in the last four home games, the third-most points allowed by any team in a four-game span in NFL history, it's obviously irritating to be unable to get things clicking. But with a bye week and young players continuing to gain valuable playing experience, Zimmer believes his unit can turn it around.
"It's definitely frustrating, I'm used to having really good teams and we're going to get there because I believe in these guys and the way that they're working…" Zimmer said. "We have to get more disciplined."
