The teams are now set for the Super Bowl and will include snappers
Lonie Paxton of the Patriots and rookie snappers Jay Alford and Zak
DeOssie handling short and long snaps respectively for the Giants. In
the Pro Bowl the week after the Super Bowl, the snappers will be
Ethan Albright (Redskins) and Ryan Pontbriand (Browns), each making
their first appearance.
During the playoffs, DeOssie recorded two solo punt tackles. David
Binn of the Chargers had solo stops in the Chargers first two playoff
games, while Greg Warren of the Steelers had a tackle and an assist
in the team's wild card game.
Final punt tackle statistics for all NFL snappers are also displayed
below. Since team tackles often differ from the NFL Gamebook
numbers, those team figures are noted where available. Any
differences that appeared on the final NFL.com stats are also noted.
There have been two recent snapper transactions as Jared Retkofsky,
who spent time in the Steelers camp and on the Seahawks practice
squad, signed with the Steelers and Tim Lindsay, who was in the
Falcons camp, signed with the Seahawks. As usual, there have also
been some special teams coaching changes, as Mike Westhoff of the
Jets resigned while the Dolphins fired Keith Armstrong. John
Bonamego, who coached the Saints special teams, has been hired to
replace Armstrong in Miami.
Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News recently summarized some key
statistics from the 2007 NFL season, including some interesting
special teams statistics. There were 25 kickoff returns for
touchdowns and 16 punt returns for touchdowns. The Bears Devin
Hester had three punt returns for touchdowns, while the Falcons,
Ravens, Chargers and Seahawks did not allow either a kickoff or punt
return for a touchdown. There were 38 blocked kicks, with Bears
blocking a total of eight, comprised of four field goals, three punts
and an extra point. Israel Idonije had three of the four blocked
field goals by the Bears. Finally, there were a total of 49
turnovers in the kicking game, with the Chargers recording six and
Tracy White of the Packers having two to lead all players.
The group at Football Outsiders recently completed their 2007 special
teams rankings that examines five categories, field goals/extra
points, kickoffs, kick returns, punts and punt returns. The Bears,
Browns, Texans, Chargers and 49ers were the top five teams, while the
bottom five were the Colts, Eagles, Panthers, Raiders and Broncos.
Some Draft-eligible snappers participated in college all-stars games
and two will be at the Combine next month. Indiana's Tim Bugg and
Florida State's Garrison Sanborn were the snappers chosen for the
Senior Bowl, while Nick Jarvis of Wake Forest snapped in the Hula
Bowl and East-West Shrine game. Bugg, along with Tyler Schmitt of
San Diego State, are the two snappers selected to the Combine.
Sanborn will also snap in the Texas vs. The Nation game along with
Dixie State snapper Chase Norton.
Two snappers with prior NFL experience were selected in the inaugural
draft of the new All-American Football League. William Delahoussaye
was drafted by Arkansas in Round 37 and Mike Gomez was drafted by
Tennessee in Round 40.
The next issue of News and Notes will be available Tuesday, February
26th and will feature all of the latest snapping developments as free
agency and the NFL Draft approach.
FINAL (TACKLES/ASSISTS)
Neill (BUF) (8,1)
Condo (OAK) (6,2)
Darche (KC) (7,0) (TEAM HAD 7 WITH 6 SOLO)
Leach (DEN) (5,1) (TEAM HAD 4 WITH 3 SOLO)
DeOssie (NYG) (5,0)
Dorenbos (PHI) (4,1) (NFL.COM HAD 5 WITH 3 SOLO)
Mannelly (CHI) (4,0)
Pontbriand (CLE) (4,0)
Jennings (SF) (2,2) (NFL.COM HAD 5 WITH 3 SOLO)
Katula (BAL) (3,1) (TEAM HAD 7 WITH 5 SOLO)
Amato (TEN) (3,0) (NFL.COM HAD 3 WITH 2 SOLO)
Kyle (CAR) (3,0)
Snow (IND) (2,0,FF) (TEAM HAD 3 WITH 2 SOLO)
Massey (STL) (2,0,FR)
Dearth (NYJ) (2,0) (NFL.COM HAD 3 SOLO)
Denney (MIA) (2,0)
Houser (NO) (2,0)
Ladouceur (DAL) (2,0)
Loeffler (MIN) (2,0) (NFL.COM HAD 3 WITH 2 SOLO)
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)
Albright (WAS) (TEAM HAD FOUR TACKLES)
