Mike Zimmer isn't relying on last year's success against Patriots

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Heading into the game against the Cincinnati Bengals last year, Tom Brady had thrown a touchdown pass in 52 straight games. After 4 quarters of tough Bengals defense and a potentially game tying touchdown drive was hit with a rain storm that would have made Noah say "Now that's a rain storm!" the game ended with a Patriots loss and no touchdown passes for Tom Brady.

The defensive coordinator that day for the Bengals was Mike Zimmer, who in the offseason took the head coaching job of the Minnesota Vikings. The Patriots play the Vikings this weekend and Zimmer has been downplaying last years success against Brady and the Patriots.

You know it was a different team, different situation,” Zimmer told reporters. “It rained like crazy the last minute of the ball game. It’s completely different. Obviously you look at the tape but you don’t think that everything is going to be the same.

He's telling it like it is. While he had success last year with the Bengals he's with the Vikings now. The Vikings don't have the same moving pieces on defense the Bengals had. But they still have a capable defense.

Since Brady has become the starter, he has faced both the Vikings and Mike Zimmer as a defensive coordinator three times. He is 3-0 versus the Vikings and 2-1 versus Zimmer.

If we break down his three games versus Zimmer this is what it looks like.

2003 Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys finished the 2003 season ranked as the 2nd overall defense in points allowed with 16.2 points per game. Brady went 15-34 for 212 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions against them. The Patriots won that game 12-0.

2010 Cincinnati Bengals: The 2010 Bengals allowed 24.7 points per game which ranked 24th in the league that year. This was Brady's best game against Zimmer when he went for 25-35 for 258 yards with 3 TDs in a 38-24 victory.

2013 Cincinnati Bengals: Last year's Bengals finished 5th in points allowing 19.7 overall. This was Brady's worst game against Zimmer. Brady's numbers were 18-38 for 197 yards and one interception. This was early in the year when the Patriots were still Gronkless and breaking in a bunch of new receivers, which led to a lot of early season struggles.

While Brady hasn't ripped Zimmer's defenses apart he has found some success against them before, but has struggled at times. So there is some optimism that he can have a good day against them. But like Zimmer said, its a different year, different teams and a different situation, so anything is possible.

H/T Pro Football Talk

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