Cowboys' Malik Hooker speaks his mind on Mike Zimmer vs. Dan Quinn
Dallas Cowboys star safety Malik Hooker isn't afraid to speak his mind and he did just that during a recent appearance on the "All Facts No Brakes" podcast with Keyshawn Johnson. When asked to compare Cowboys new defensive coordinator hire Mike Zimmer to their past DC, Hooker didn't hesitate to reveal what might make him […]
Dallas Cowboys star safety Malik Hooker isn't afraid to speak his mind and he did just that during a recent appearance on the "All Facts No Brakes" podcast with Keyshawn Johnson.
When asked to compare Cowboys new defensive coordinator hire Mike Zimmer to their past DC, Hooker didn't hesitate to reveal what might make him better than Dan Quinn.
"(Coach Zimmer) and DQ are different," Hooker said. "(Zimmer's) more like he's going give you a couple of chances to mess up but if you keep messing up you can't get it right, 'I'm going to get somebody else in there to', whereas DQ was more player-oriented and if something couldn't get done or we kept messing up on something he would just try to I guess level down to make it easier for everybody to be able to still go out there and do what they (were) going to do. But it just wouldn't be what he was asking for in that moment."
Quinn is known across the league as a "players coach" and he's had a lot of success with that coaching style, including in Dallas, which Hooker did emphasize.
But he also noted that the Cowboys needed a change of pace on that side of the ball and Zimmer's all-business, no bulls— ways of teaching already appear to be working.
"So I think that's the difference for him and I feel like even these past couple weeks of having this new system and going out there OTAs and doing everything we've been doing, you can tell the difference of I would say discipline that we're going to be this year," Hooker said. "If you watched a lot of our games, a lot of the big games we lost. I mean yeah, there were plays made but a lot of the time we (were) shooting ourselves in the foot jumping offsides, and giving (the other team) another fresh set of first downs."
That said, the Cowboys' defense mistakes can't all be blamed on the coaches, but a stricter coaching technique does help them limit those mistkates.
"We are who we are," Hooker said. "We were successful in the defense we played in, you know what I'm saying? We had great success and we had some downfalls in the defense. So them as coaches, I feel like especially with the team we got, their job ain't to go and bring a whole new X, Y, Z or whole new system. He pretty much just made it easier to the point of he's nothing less than demanding of what he wants done on the field."
Cowboys RB Deuce Vaughn is the surprise cut candidate ahead of training camp
With the downtime between now and until training camp kicks off at the end of July, the NFL crew at A to Z Sports went through all 32 teams and selected a potential surprise cut candidate. For the Dallas Cowboys, A to Z Sports picked running back Deuce Vaughn, pointing out the fact that his […]
