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Blair Walsh: Mike Zimmer explains why he yelled at his kicker

By Dan Zinski

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Everybody saw Mike Zimmer yelling at Blair Walsh Saturday night after his fourth missed kick of the evening.

If you missed it on the actual telecast, you certainly saw it on Twitter.

Or maybe on Facebook.

Or on somebody’s blog.

That footage got passed around a lot, is what I’m saying. It showed Mike Zimmer expressing major displeasure at his kicker for failing to get the ball through the uprights.

This is what it looked like, in case by some miracle you still haven’t seen it.

No mercy for Walsh, even on a night when his long snappers were being platooned and the wind was blowing a gale and the rain was coming down like in some overwrought Biblical epic?

Mike Zimmer was asked about all this Wednesday morning and gave his side of the story (via Minneapolis Star Tribune):

"“Sometimes I get upset and I say some things to some players who aren’t doing what I want them to do. I think everyone who plays for us has a job to do, and we expect them to do that, whether it’s the kicker or the quarterback or the middle linebacker, we’re going to let him know when we’re not pleased. Sometimes it’s good to get a little pressure put on by the coach.”"

Coddling kickers is not Mike Zimmer’s thing, apparently.

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Mike Zimmer’s mentor Bill Parcells wasn’t a big fan of kickers either, as I recall.

I wonder how Mike feels about Blair Walsh’s recent contract extension. Would he have extended his kicker before the start of preseason or would he have waited it out? Or maybe even brought in another kicker to compete with Walsh?

Of course Zimmer didn’t draft Walsh. Rick Spielman drafted Walsh. And Rick Spielman has a way of protecting the people he drafted.

Walsh may have a new contract and he may be a Spielman guy, but that didn’t stop Mike Zimmer from lighting him up when he missed.

But they got rid of Cullen Loeffler, so everything should be fine now.

Next: Stefon Diggs saves Cordarrelle Patterson

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