Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has a artful way of being respectful while exuding old-school confidence and swagger.
Earlier today, he was asked how he would balance his team's approach against giving all due respect to a player the stature of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, who, FYI, might actually be as great as he constantly claims to be.
"You're always looking at matchups and are aware of certain guys," Zimmer said. "It doesn't really matter what position, how you can affect the game, things that you can do to work different areas.
"I have a lot of respect for [Sherman] and really their whole defense. Their defense is really good. But we kind of like how we do things and we just do them. 'We're not going to back down from a challenge' is the best way of saying it."
Later, Zimmer flashed his sense of humor when asked if there "was a chance" that the Vikings would have to play Sunday's game without injured starting safeties Andrew Sendejo and Harrison Smith. Zimmer doesn't like injury questions to begin with. Throw in the word "chance" and he typically seizes the opportunity to express that there is pretty much a chance of anything happening to any of us on any given day.
"There is a chance that if I lose 100 pounds, I could be a jockey," Zimmer said before adding, "How would I know? I wouldn't know yet if guys are going to play or not."
And that dream about being a jockey?
"I always wanted to be," Zimmer said. "Riding those Triple Crown winners. That would be pretty fun."
