The long snapper is often one of the least-heralded players on a football team, but man, do you ever notice when he’s missing.
That’s what happened to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, as they lost both starting long snapper Jon Dorenbos (who was actually profiled by NFL Network earlier in the day in a remarkable piece) and backup long snapper (and tight end) Brent Celek during their game against the Washington Redskins. That led to linebacker Mychal Kendricks trying some snaps on the sidelines, but the team wasn’t confident in him, leading to them going for it on fourth and one in field-goal range. However, tight end Trey Burton then started taking some practice snaps:
The Eagles contemplated sending Burton in on the next fourth-and-one, but lined up like they were going to go for it instead. However, they then took a timeout and sent him out to snap for a field goal. Here’s what happened:
That’s not a great snap by Burton, but it was good enough, and not bad at all for someone who doesn’t normally do that. Punter Donnie Jones makes a terrific play on the hold to get the ball down and set it up for kicker Caleb Sturgis, who drills it through. Amazingly, too, this came on a day where very little else went right for the Eagles; as announcers Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch noted before this, they’d thrown away 17 potential points with an end-zone interception, a return touchdown nullified by a penalty and a blown snap from Celek on a field goal.
Still, that alone wasn’t enough, as the Redskins scored a touchdown on their next drive (after converting a fourth-and-one of their own) and took a 27-22 lead. Philadelphia had one final drive and got close to a touchdown, but Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan forced a fumble from Eagles’ quarterback Carson Wentz. The Redskins recovered to seal the win, meaning Burton’s valiant long-snapping was in vain. He deserves credit for how well he did stepping in on short notice, though, and this game proved the value of a good long snapper. They’re not often noticed when everything goes right, but when it goes wrong, you definitely miss them.
