The regular season is now complete in the NFL and there have been
some snapping developments this past week. Potential unrestricted
free agent Jon Dorenbos of the Eagles signed a five-year extension
this weekend. In a press release announcing the signing, Eagles
general manager Tom Heckert noted that "good, consistent long
snappers are hard to find."
Nate Hodel of the Cardinals was able to snap this weekend after
suffering an ankle injury on the game-winning field goal in overtime
last week, while Jeremy Cain of the Titans handled all snaps for the
Titans for the second week in a row after Kevin Mawae was out again
and could not handle the short snaps.
First-year player Ryan Neill of the Bills wrapped up the tackles
title, recording a solo stop this weekend and finished with nine
tackles, eight of which were solo tackles. Jon Condo of the Raiders
was second with eight tackles, six of which were solo stops. In
next month's issue of News and Notes, I will include any tackle
numbers compiled by individual teams from coaches' review of game
film. Where available, this numbers often differ from the NFL
Gamebook tackle figures. NFL snappers who want to report their team
tackle figures can email them to me at kevingold@longsnap.com.
On the college front, Nick Jarvis of Wake Forest has been selected
to the Hula Bowl. The Senior Bowl is also expected to invite two
snappers to participate in the premier college all-star game and it
is likely that at least two snappers will be selected to the NFL
Scouting Combine in February.
In the column "Ask Jerry Markbreit", which features answers to
reader questions from former NFL Referee Jerry Markbreit, a question
was posed concerning a long snapper who picked the ball up and
tapped the point of the ball on the ground and then picked it up
again and snapped it to the punter. The question was whether this
was a legal snap or false start. In response, Markbreit noted that,
because snapping is "very difficult" and that snappers are given "a
lot of leeway," unless the action by the snapper draws a response
from the defensive team, it should not be an illegal snap foul.
With the regular season complete, News and Notes will now be
published monthly in the off-season on the last Tuesday of each
month, beginning with the January issue on January 29th.
Have a great new year!
WEEK SEVENTEEN TACKLES (TACKLES/ASSISTS)
Leach (DEN) (2.0)
Condo (OAK) (1,0)
Dearth (NYJ) (1,0)
Dorenbos (PHI) (1,0)
Neill (BUF) (1,0)
THROUGH WEEK SEVENTEEN (TACKLES/ASSISTS)
Neill (BUF) (8,1)
Condo (OAK) (6,2)
Darche (KC) (7,0)
Leach (DEN) (5,1)
DeOssie (NYG) (5,0)
Dorenbos (PHI) (4,1)
Mannelly (CHI) (4,0)
Pontbriand (CLE) (4,0)
Katula (BAL) (3,1)
Amato (TEN) (3,0)
Kyle (CAR) (3,0)
Jennings (SF) (1,2)
Snow (IND) (2,0,FF)
Massey (STL) (2,0,FR)
Dearth (NYJ) (2,0)
Denney (MIA) (2,0)
Houser (NO) (2,0)
Ladouceur (DAL) (2,0)
Loeffler (MIN) (2,0)
Muhlbach (DET) (2,0)
Pittman (HOU) (2,0)
Rackley (SEA) (1,1)
Schneck (ATL) (1,1)
Warren (PIT) (1,1)
Zelenka (JAX) (1,1)
Cain (TEN) (1,0)
Paxton (NE) (1,0)
