Don't snap at long snappers

Firing that ball between your legs isn't so easy

Be kind to your long snapper, boys and girls. Send him a card on his birthday, compliment his haircut, let him know you care. Because next weekend or next season you just may need him to save your favorite team's bacon by bending over and slinging a football between his legs to a precise spot anywhere from seven to 15 yards away in .7 seconds or less, all while some wild-eyed behemoth stands over him, ready to turn his Adam's apple into apple sauce the instant he so much as twitches.

The importance of NFL long snappers cannot be overrated, yet their profiles could not be more understated. In fact, the only one you can probably name off the top of your head is Trey Junkin of the New York Giants, and that's because he's the poor sap who made the poor snap on the Giants' botched last-second field goal on Sunday, allowing the San Francisco 49ers to escape with a 39-38 playoff win over New York.

Giants' holder could not spike NEW YORK (AP) -- Giants holder Matt Allen could not have spiked the botched snap on the final play of New York's loss to the San Francisco 49ers. It's against the rules. NFL Director of Officiating Mike Pereira said Monday that Allen would not have been allowed to immediately spike the ball because it was a long snap. The only time a player can spike the ball is when he takes the snap from under center. With six seconds left Sunday and the Giants trailing 39-38, Matt Bryant lined up to try a potential game-winning 41-yard field goal. The snap from newly signed Trey Junkin was in the dirt. Allen fumbled the ball, then made a desperation pass downfield. FOX commentator Cris Collinsworth said at the time that because it was third down, Allen could have spiked the ball, giving the Giants another chance at a kick. Afterward, on the FOX postgame show, other commentators agreed. After a videotape review, Pereira said later Monday the officials should have called pass interference on 49ers defensive end Chike Okeafor for hitting Rich Seubert downfield when he was attempting to catch Allen's pass. Seubert was an eligible receiver on the play. "If defensive pass interference had been called," an NFL statement explained, "there would have been offsetting penalties [ineligible receiver against the Giants and pass interference against the 49ers], with the down replayed at the original line of scrimmage, the San Francisco 23-yard line. Although time had expired, a game cannot end with offsetting penalties. Thus, the game would have been extended by one untimed down." One additional note on the play: Allen did not have the option of spiking the ball to stop the clock, which only can be done by taking a hand-to-hand snap directly from the center. If Allen had spiked the ball, it would have been a penalty for intentionally grounding the ball and the game would have ended due to a 10-second runoff of the clock.

Junkin will probably always be best remembered for that final play, which is unfair not only because he was one of the league's best at that unappreciated art for 19 seasons, but also because he was yanked out of retirement at the age of 41 when the Giants' regular long snapper, um, whatshisname, tore a thumb ligament last week.

Long snapper is the most obscure position in any major sport. Even offensive linemen get introduced at the start of a telecast, but not the snapper. When analysts break down the special teams matchups, the punters, placekickers and return men get mentioned, but the long snappers? Almost never. When a team is driving late in the game for a potential field goal, the TV cameras often cut to the kicker preparing on the sideline, but there are few shots of the snapper, who is facing just as much pressure. But to an NFL team, long snappers are as valuable as diamonds -- and almost as rare. If just anyone could snap, the Giants wouldn't have needed to reach out and grab Junkin off the retired list.

What's even more obscure than anonymous? Meganonymous? That's what long snappers are. Try out these names: Mike Schneck, Derek Rackley, James Dearth, Adam Treu, Brian Jennings, Mike Bartrum, Ryan Benjamin and Aaron Graham. They are the long snappers of the eight remaining playoff teams, and chances are that at least one of them will take part in a game-deciding play at some point this postseason, just as Junkin did. But if you can match more than one of those players to his team, you should be a regular on NFL Pregame Primetime Postgame Countdown Live Period, or whatever those insipid studio shows are called. (By the way, the eight snappers play for, in order: the Steelers, Falcons, Jets, Raiders, 49ers, Eagles, Buccaneers and Titans.)

Coaches, GMs and owners understand how a long snapper can make or break a season, which is why there are players who have made a long and profitable living doing that and only that. When a fellow named Jeff Robinson signed a four-year, $4.8 million contract with the Cowboys last offseason to be their long snapper, he later told reporters that "the only people who think I'm worth this money are my parents and [owner] Jerry Jones."

Bartrum of the Eagles is allegedly a tight end, but he'd have a hard time producing evidence to that effect. In his nine years in the NFL, he has four receptions for 14 yards. But Bartrum is a regular Tony Gonzalez compared to the Niners' Jennings, another supposed tight end, who has exactly zero catches in his three-year career.

Though there is a great deal of technique to long snapping, many of those who do it for a living will tell you that good long snappers are born, not made. If you're wondering whether you are one of those chosen few, try a preliminary test: print out this column, crumple it into a ball, assume the position and try to long snap it into the wastebasket across the room. If it goes in, call the Giants. Something tells me they might have an opening.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor writes about a Hot Button issue every Monday on CNNSI.com.

 

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