With punch of the ball vs. Pats, Zimmer entered Bills lore

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. » With more NFL transactions than tackles to his name over five nomadic years, defensive lineman Justin Zimmer arrived in Buffalo for a second stint with the Bills inmid-August doubting his chances.

It’s not often an unproven journeyman signed so late in the offseason gets a real opportunity to make an NFL roster. Worse yet, Zimmer acknowledged not being accustomed with the attacking style of play the Bills demand fromtheir tackles, which became evident during his first few practices.

“Yeah, I’d be lying if I said after like the first week or so that I thought I would be here at this point in time,” he saidWednesday.

Zimmer, who played in Buffalo’s season opener before spending the next month on the practice squad, has spent the past three weeks on the active roster. During that time, he made an indelible entry into franchise lore.

With one decisive punch of the ball to force Cam Newton’s fumble at Buffalo’s 13 with 31 seconds left and clinch a 24-21 win over New England on Sunday, Zimmer became one of the few Bills in 20 years to play a decisive role in beating their AFC East nemesis.

The victorywas Buffalo’s sixth in 41 meetings with New England since 2000, and the first at home since 2011.

The win also opened the discussion of a changing of the guard taking place, for one year at least, in a division the Patriots have owned by winning 17 AFC East titles since 2001, including the past 11.

Buffalo (6-2), which hosts Seattle (6-1) on Sunday, sits in first while the Patriots (25) dropped to third, behind Miami (4-3).

“Honestly, I don’t know what to feel right now,” Zimmer said after the game. “It’ll probably take me 24 hours just to realize kindof everything that happened.”

Zimmer acted instinctively upon seeing the Patriots’ linemen shift to their left. He ran down the line and then cut upfield to get ahead of the crowd of blockers. Newton cut back toward the middle and Zimmer dived and punched the ball loose, with safety Dean Marlowe recovering the fumble.

Zimmer was still struggling to put it into perspective days later.

“It’ll probably be the biggest play of my career,” he said, before correcting himself. “I hope I’ll make a bigger play, but it’s hard to beat that play.”

His cautious approach stems from years of not knowing what comes next. Zimmer has bounced around the continent since completing his college career at Division II Ferris State in 2015.

After being cut by the