Justin Zimmer...unsung defensive hero?

[Doc]

He's under contract for next year.  He signed with the Bills midway through training camp (August 16th).  Give him an entire off- and pre-season and see what he can do next year.

[JohnNord]

I watched the relay of the Bills-Baltimore game on the Cover 1 Youtube channel.  He did a tremendous job following Lamar in the pocket so that he couldn’t escape.  It’s a role that very few would notice and will not show up on the stat sheet, but from the few plus I saw when he was in, he did a great job

[BADOLBILZ]

2 hours ago, Simon said:

I'll give him credit for consistency; he consistently gets buried or blown off the line.

So at least he's got that going for him.

 

 

In the SB years Kirby Jackson would have been an unsung hero candidate.

 

Patrick Mahomes would throw TD's all game against a complete stiff like that now.   

 

The game changes........but guys who make the plays that matter most within their game's framework are important.

 

[Simon]

The problem is when those guys only make plays once a month and spend the rest of the time getting blown out of gaps.

I know you see what's happening with the DLine rotation; Zimmer is getting manhandled out there on almost every snap.

I bet if you watched film from the last two games you'd find Zimmer losing his matchup more than any other player on the Bills defense and it's been going on for months.

He's a huge liability out there.

[JerseyBills]

20 hours ago, umangatan said:

How underrated is Justin Zimmer? From the peanut punch against Newton to being down in the endzone with Tre  and Taron to being a disruptive force against the Ravens run d, this guy does it all. Another diamond in the rough find by our GM of the year? What do you think?

Absolutely  

Zimmer has fairly quietly become a quality DT in the rotation. It feels like he has overtaken Harry Phillips on the depth chart 

Props to the coaching staff. 

[BADOLBILZ]

2 hours ago, Simon said:

The problem is when those guys only make plays once a month and spend the rest of the time getting blown out of gaps.

I know you see what's happening with the DLine rotation; Zimmer is getting manhandled out there on almost every snap.

I bet if you watched film from the last two games you'd find Zimmer losing his matchup more than any other player on the Bills defense and it's been going on for months.

He's a huge liability out there.

 

 

As I illustrated earlier.........he makes plays at a surprisingly high rate........not "once a month".

 

In the Ravens game he didn't lose a single snap.........they surprisingly ran for basically nothing when Zimmer was on the field.

 

And he made his play with 7 minutes left when he bull rushed his man into Huntley and deflected the pass which I thought was going to result in Taron Johnson's second pick six of the game.........but Snead managed to lunge and catch the end over end pass.

 

Zimmer isn't a world beater but he makes plays.   When you do that you create opportunities for changes of possession.    That's modern defense.

 

I know it's infuriating watching teams run the ball.............I went thru it 10 years ago when I wanted to snipe Kyle Williams from my seat as he basically allowed 200 yards rushing all by himself in the famous "how you do me like that God" game that birthed the term Bills mafia...........but as I've said, the game has changed.   

[Buffalo716]

20 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

But the “peanut punch” ( never heard this expression in the Southern Hemisphere before BTW) and the running down the field with Taron??

 

What more could you want from a DT? 

Charles peanut Tillman was known for punching the ball out, so they called it a peanut punch

[Augie]

7 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Charles peanut Tillman was known for punching the ball out, so they called it a peanut punch

 

A punch in the nuts can change a lot of things! 

 

 

😡

[ganesh]

21 hours ago, BornAgainBillsFan said:

And at $920K next year, his production to cap hit ratio will come in handy. We're going to be relying on players like him for the foreseeable future.

yes

[Simon]

26 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

As I illustrated earlier.........he makes plays at a surprisingly high rate........not "once a month".

 

In the Ravens game he didn't lose a single snap.........they surprisingly ran for basically nothing when Zimmer was on the field.

 

And he made his play with 7 minutes left when he bull rushed his man into Huntley and deflected the pass which I thought was going to result in Taron Johnson's second pick six of the game.........but Snead managed to lunge and catch the end over end pass.

 

Zimmer isn't a world beater but he makes plays.   When you do that you create opportunities for changes of possession.    That's modern defense.

 

 

 

I won't give him grief for his pocket work as he was part of a DLine that did an outstanding job holding their rush lanes and he actually got up under a Guard and pushed him a couple times. But he spent half the game trying to anchor with his back turned to the LOS.

And the reason the Ravens ran for nothing is that we had zero respect for Lamar's arm and were pouring guys to the point of attack all over the line. Aside from the first series I thought they wasted too many downs trying to attack the 5 and 6 holes against a disciplined defensive front.

I've spent the entire season staring in wonder at opposing offenses refusal to work our defensive interior. We can only dodge that bullet so many times before somebody stops beating themselves with that foolishness.

[BADOLBILZ]

13 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

 

I won't give him grief for his pocket work as he was part of a DLine that did an outstanding job holding their rush lanes and he actually got up under a Guard and pushed him a couple times. But he spent half the game trying to anchor with his back turned to the LOS.

And the reason the Ravens ran for nothing is that we had zero respect for Lamar's arm and were pouring guys to the point of attack all over the line. Aside from the first series I thought they wasted too many downs trying to attack the 5 and 6 holes against a disciplined defensive front.

I've spent the entire season staring in wonder at opposing offenses refusal to work our defensive interior. We can only dodge that bullet so many times before somebody stops beating themselves with that foolishness.

 

Now you're just making stuff up from imagined memory.

 

He didn't play that many snaps and didn't get spun once in the game.

 

On the series where Klein went offside on 4th down early in the game.......they ran right at Zimmer and he stood up the runner short for no gain on 3rd down and then teamed to stuff Lamar on the ill-fated 4th down.

 

The Ravens had some nice runs but that was mostly with Butler in the lineup.

 

I was surprised myself at his near perfect game...........but I wasn't surprised when he got a hand on the football.......he has a knack for getting to it.

[Simon]

I will freely admit it was the first time this year I've been drunk during a Bills game.

But I was also sitting on my couch next to a D-coordinator and we made several jokes about his instincts to at least make a pile when he gets turned.

[BADOLBILZ]

2 minutes ago, Simon said:

I will freely admit it was the first time this year I've been drunk during a Bills game.

But I was also sitting on my couch next to a D-coordinator and we made several jokes about his instincts to at least make a pile when he gets turned.

 

 

Well I guess he was drunk too.

 

But I generally find my first viewing of a game is very much incomplete whether I've been drinking or not.

 

I was more encouraged by Phillips though.........as others have said that was the best he's looked all season and if healthy HE is the type of 1T this defense needs.....ACTIVE......not the worthless traffic cone type that they invested the $50M in.

 

 

[Da webster guy]

22 hours ago, Bangarang said:

I think he’s a jag. Just shows how weak our d-line is this year.

Game winning punchout vs NE is not a jag play thats Kyle Williams level.  

 

Everyone expects interior linemen to standout even if their job is largely unsung.  How many times did you hear 6'8 all pro Calais Campbells number get called last week?

 

Zimmer needs more playing time to refine his game and so does Ed, but they have learned a lot this year.

[Simon]

10 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Well I guess he was drunk too.

 

 

Yes he was. 

You've got a good eye and I was inhaling beers so I'll take your word that Zimmer had his best game as a Bill. But I'd still consider that an outlier compared with what we've seen out of him the rest of the year.

Going up against a Chiefs team that has shown a willingness to stick with what should work against this D will be the biggest test of the year against that interior rotation. I admit I am not hopeful about their ability to stand up to it.

[BADOLBILZ]

16 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

Yes he was. 

You've got a good eye and I was inhaling beers so I'll take your word that Zimmer had his best game as a Bill. But I'd still consider that an outlier compared with what we've seen out of him the rest of the year.

Going up against a Chiefs team that has shown a willingness to stick with what should work against this D will be the biggest test of the year against that interior rotation. I admit I am not hopeful about their ability to stand up to it.

 

If the Bills offense plays well it won't be a running game.

 

Last 6 weeks the Bills have faced five top 10 defenses........they should be primed to put some numbers on KC. 

[noacls]

11 hours ago, Simon said:

I will freely admit it was the first time this year I've been drunk during a Bills game.

But I was also sitting on my couch next to a D-coordinator and we made several jokes about his instincts to at least make a pile when he gets turned.

D coordinator at what level? Do you know what number Zimmer is? The DT getting caved in regularly is 90. 

Edited January 23, 2021 by noacls

[T master]

On 1/21/2021 at 10:44 PM, umangatan said:

How underrated is Justin Zimmer? From the peanut punch against Newton to being down in the endzone with Tre  and Taron to being a disruptive force against the Ravens run d, this guy does it all. Another diamond in the rough find by our GM of the year? What do you think?

 

Hopefully he will stick around and not use this season to go for the big bucks like Phillips did that's the only thing that stinks about those situations !! 

 

But a really good get chalk up another for Beane !! 

[Doc]

8 minutes ago, T master said:

 

Hopefully he will stick around and not use this season to go for the big bucks like Phillips did that's the only thing that stinks about those situations !! 

 

But a really good get chalk up another for Beane !! 

He’s under contract next year. 

Edited January 23, 2021 by Doc

[BADOLBILZ]

1 hour ago, T master said:

 

Hopefully he will stick around and not use this season to go for the big bucks like Phillips did that's the only thing that stinks about those situations !! 

 

But a really good get chalk up another for Beane !! 

 

 

He isn't an unrestricted free agent........it will be interesting to see if he can build on this year though.....the production-per-play stats are impressive but still very limited snaps....and he's not young he will be 29 next season.........but he is low mileage.