Dec. 1 marks an unpleasant anniversary that the Minnesota Vikings head coach would like to forget.
The Vikings hosted the Dallas Cowboys on this date last year without Mike Zimmer, who was forced to undergo emergency eye surgery.
After a month of undergoing minor procedures to repair a torn retina, Mike Zimmer was taken into surgery the night prior to Minnesota’s Week 13 matchup against the top team in the NFC, a game they eventually lost 17-15 with special teams coordinator Mike Priefer acting as head coach.
After facing a burdensome recovery, during which Zimmer couldn’t fly for several months and had to sleep on his back or left side, the coach’s eyes are stable, though not perfect.
“I don’t think it’ll get any better,” said Zimmer, “and I don’t think it’ll get any worse.”
There was hope that Zimmer’s vision would improve to 20/20 with a contact lens, but he said that blind spots in his eye prevent his eyesight from being perfect. During visits to the eye doctor, his vision checks in anywhere from 20/25 to 20/80, depending on whether his blind spots are covering up the letters on the vision-test chart.
He describes his vision as “cloudy.”
The greatest difficulty, however, might be hunting. He now has to use his left eye when shooting a bow or rifle, which has a learning curve.
“The clay birds are the hard ones,” Zimmer said.
Thielen vs Jones
Fans watching Sunday’s game will be treated to two of the league’s top three receivers. Julio Jones, who is second behind Antonio Brown with 1,039 receiving yards on the season, is coming off a 253-yard performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Adam Thielen is right on his tail with 1,005 yards.
An injury to Falcons cornerback Desmond Trufant might give Thielen an edge in the battle between two elite pass-catchers.
Trufant has the ninth-highest cornerback grade, according to Pro Football Focus, but he’ll miss Sunday’s game with a concussion. It’s possible that Brian Poole, usually the team’s nickel corner, could move outside. Pro Football Focus ranks him 54th amongst corners.
He would have a tough challenge in Thielen, who has 89 or more yards in seven out of 11 games this season, and five or more catches in every game.
Xavier Rhodes, on the other hand, is healthy and ready to face Jones. In two career games against Rhodes, Jones has 11 catches, 138 yards and no touchdowns on 15 targets.
The last time Jones recorded a receiving game over 250 yards (Oct. 2, 2016), he followed it up with a two-catch, 29-yard performance against the Denver Broncos.
“You go into the game, don’t believe in the hype, don’t be afraid of the name,” said Rhodes. “I know he’s one of the best receivers in the league, and I’ve just got to go and play with a mindset and have confidence.”
Jones was limited in practice all week with an ankle injury.
Zimmer’s other former team
Zimmer has shared many stories of his days with the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals.
Not so many with the Atlanta Falcons, his other old team.
Zimmer spent one year as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator under head coach Bobby Petrino, who left the team after 13 games — without telling his assistants — to take the head coaching job at Arkansas.
Back in 2010, Zimmer was still upset at Petrino’s decision.
“When a coach quits in the middle of the year and ruins a bunch of people’s families and doesn’t have enough guts to finish out the year, I’m not a part of it,” Zimmer said when he was the defensive coordinator in Cincinnati. “And you can put that in the Arkansas News-Gazette. I don’t really give a (bleep). He’s a coward, he ruined a bunch of people’s lives, a bunch of families, kids, because he didn’t have enough (guts) to stay there and finish the job. And that’s the truth. Most people in football have enough courage about him and enough fight to stick it out and not quit halfway through the year. It’s cowardly.”
Petrino is currently in his second stint as the Louisville head coach.
No word on if he and Zimmer have reconciled.
Injury report
Other than Trufant, the Falcons should have all key players active, despite a list of seven players that were limited in practice at some point during the week.
For the fourth straight game, the Vikings will be without right tackle Mike Remmers, who is dealing with a lower back injury that he aggravated on Wednesday. Rashod Hill will replace him again in the starting lineup.
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