tk13
12-13-2005, 02:16 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/13393897.htm
Whom should we blame? The kicker? The snapper? The holder?
By ELIZABETH MERRILL
The Kansas City Star
For 14 years, Gammon has made a crazy living firing a piece of aired-up leather between his legs.
Nobody understands what long snappers do. And nobody cares until something goes wrong. Gammon was fighting the stomach flu and nursing a broken leg Sunday night when Ed Perry’s snap came in low and inside. The Chiefs missed the field goal as time expired in a 31-28 loss at Dallas, and by Monday, fingers were being pointed at everybody from the kicker to the snapper to the general manager who signed the snapper.
“(Our) job description,” Gammon said, “is to snap the ball and get the crap knocked out of you. Only in America.”
By the time the team plane arrived in Kansas City, Perry was already taking a beating. Coach Dick Vermeil said he became concerned about Perry last week when Perry’s snaps were inconsistent in practice. On Monday, when asked whether the Chiefs might look for somebody to take Perry’s job, Vermeil said: “It’s something we’re evaluating right now.”
Perry arrived in Kansas City three weeks ago after Gammon broke his right fibula in the Houston game. Before the Chiefs called, Perry was unemployed from the NFL for about three months. But people in Miami said Perry rarely botched a snap in his eight seasons with the Dolphins, and he had a rather anonymous career before Sunday’s developments.
That’s the life of a snapper. Gammon was one of the first players to be used exclusively as a long snapper in the early 1990s. He is in on roughly eight to 14 plays a game. While 70,000 or so fans are fixed on the kicker, the quarterback or anyone else, about the only one studying Gammon is his wife.
His rituals are always the same. On first down, he holds a towel and makes sure he doesn’t get any foreign objects on his hands. He clutches his helmet. On second down, he puts his helmet on and stretches. He snaps up and sticks in his mouthpiece on third down. At this point, Gammon begins to talk to himself, saying something like, “Let’s get this done.”
If the Chiefs get a first down, his routine starts all over again. His placement snaps must rotate exactly 3 1/2 times. The laces have to be straight forward when the ball lands in holder Dustin Colquitt’s hands.
Velocity and accuracy are crucial. A cool head doesn’t hurt, either. The two guys in front of the snapper generally weigh 300 pounds. They’re charging toward him while he’s still in a vulnerable position.
“It hurts a lot less after a good snap,” Gammon said.
The work is measured in milliseconds. Gammon said the goal in punting situations is to get the ball from the snapper and kicked by the punter in 2.1 seconds or fewer. Gammon fires the ball to the punter in .72 seconds. The average NFL long snapper does it in .80.
On field-goal and extra-point attempts, the timing is about 1.3 seconds from snap to kick. The Chiefs are normally below 1.25.
Asked Monday whether Perry’s three-month absence from the NFL affected his timing and rhythm, Vermeil said: “It can’t help him.”
The Chiefs have at least other two in-house options at long snapper — defensive end Jared Allen and offensive tackle Chris Bober. Allen filled in for Gammon when he went down in Houston, and he did some snaps last week in practice.
“We all know that Jared Allen is a fine long snapper,” Vermeil said. “(But) he hasn’t come out of the ballgame in three weeks. He’s on the kickoff return team, and I wanted to take him out the other day and he wouldn’t come out. He likes to play.
“But to add the responsibility of long snapping too? I don’t know. I might do it. There probably isn’t anything he wouldn’t do if you asked him to … wear a wig, a hula skirt, whatever.”
Maybe then, a long snapper would finally get some attention.
“We’re spoiled here having Kendall Gammon, who is just automatic,” Vermeil said.
“Hopefully we just didn’t take it for granted that it would get done properly. Because it was not a good snap, so the focus is on him just like it wasn’t a good block, just like someone dropped an interception and somebody got called for a penalty.”
Whom should we blame? The kicker? The snapper? The holder?
By ELIZABETH MERRILL
The Kansas City Star
For 14 years, Gammon has made a crazy living firing a piece of aired-up leather between his legs.
Nobody understands what long snappers do. And nobody cares until something goes wrong. Gammon was fighting the stomach flu and nursing a broken leg Sunday night when Ed Perry’s snap came in low and inside. The Chiefs missed the field goal as time expired in a 31-28 loss at Dallas, and by Monday, fingers were being pointed at everybody from the kicker to the snapper to the general manager who signed the snapper.
“(Our) job description,” Gammon said, “is to snap the ball and get the crap knocked out of you. Only in America.”
By the time the team plane arrived in Kansas City, Perry was already taking a beating. Coach Dick Vermeil said he became concerned about Perry last week when Perry’s snaps were inconsistent in practice. On Monday, when asked whether the Chiefs might look for somebody to take Perry’s job, Vermeil said: “It’s something we’re evaluating right now.”
Perry arrived in Kansas City three weeks ago after Gammon broke his right fibula in the Houston game. Before the Chiefs called, Perry was unemployed from the NFL for about three months. But people in Miami said Perry rarely botched a snap in his eight seasons with the Dolphins, and he had a rather anonymous career before Sunday’s developments.
That’s the life of a snapper. Gammon was one of the first players to be used exclusively as a long snapper in the early 1990s. He is in on roughly eight to 14 plays a game. While 70,000 or so fans are fixed on the kicker, the quarterback or anyone else, about the only one studying Gammon is his wife.
His rituals are always the same. On first down, he holds a towel and makes sure he doesn’t get any foreign objects on his hands. He clutches his helmet. On second down, he puts his helmet on and stretches. He snaps up and sticks in his mouthpiece on third down. At this point, Gammon begins to talk to himself, saying something like, “Let’s get this done.”
If the Chiefs get a first down, his routine starts all over again. His placement snaps must rotate exactly 3 1/2 times. The laces have to be straight forward when the ball lands in holder Dustin Colquitt’s hands.
Velocity and accuracy are crucial. A cool head doesn’t hurt, either. The two guys in front of the snapper generally weigh 300 pounds. They’re charging toward him while he’s still in a vulnerable position.
“It hurts a lot less after a good snap,” Gammon said.
The work is measured in milliseconds. Gammon said the goal in punting situations is to get the ball from the snapper and kicked by the punter in 2.1 seconds or fewer. Gammon fires the ball to the punter in .72 seconds. The average NFL long snapper does it in .80.
On field-goal and extra-point attempts, the timing is about 1.3 seconds from snap to kick. The Chiefs are normally below 1.25.
Asked Monday whether Perry’s three-month absence from the NFL affected his timing and rhythm, Vermeil said: “It can’t help him.”
The Chiefs have at least other two in-house options at long snapper — defensive end Jared Allen and offensive tackle Chris Bober. Allen filled in for Gammon when he went down in Houston, and he did some snaps last week in practice.
“We all know that Jared Allen is a fine long snapper,” Vermeil said. “(But) he hasn’t come out of the ballgame in three weeks. He’s on the kickoff return team, and I wanted to take him out the other day and he wouldn’t come out. He likes to play.
“But to add the responsibility of long snapping too? I don’t know. I might do it. There probably isn’t anything he wouldn’t do if you asked him to … wear a wig, a hula skirt, whatever.”
Maybe then, a long snapper would finally get some attention.
“We’re spoiled here having Kendall Gammon, who is just automatic,” Vermeil said.
“Hopefully we just didn’t take it for granted that it would get done properly. Because it was not a good snap, so the focus is on him just like it wasn’t a good block, just like someone dropped an interception and somebody got called for a penalty.”