I have to wonder a little bit about all of Mare's comments regarding how critical getting in sync with who is snapping (as long as they are accurate) really is.
I agree we need a specialist there, and we got one with 32 games of experience over the past two seasons, his only two in the league. You can't beat that...a guy comes in as an OFA (undrafted rookie) with Tampa and snaps for them all 16 games in '01. He goes via expansion draft to Houston and snaps 16 games for them last year with no major gaffes, so I don't think we could have done much better on such short notice. I doubt if we could have talked Trey Junkin out of retirement. :)
So, anyway Mare is perfect with McD snapping, but he was just as perfect last week with Zgonina snapping. The only problems are that Jeff, first of all, tapes his hands to play DT, and can't snap that way, which was why we got the delay of game penalty against Tampa on the 2nd punt, Ed was debating on whether he could hobble out there and snap and Jeff was getting the tape cut off his hands, but couldn't get out there in time. Then, secondly, for optimum snapping performance, one needs to devote a lot of time working with the holder, kicker and punter, and Jeff can't do that and put all he has into being the critical 3rd DT as well. Ironically, Jeff was originally drafted by the Steelers to be their long snapper. Although he'd been a very good college DT, few if anyone felt he had the tools necessary to be a pro DT and that snapping would be his ticket to a long pro career. I guess he just wanted to prove everyone wrong. :) It is also nice to know that we've a very solid backup long snapper, just in case (perish forbid) the need ever arises during a game.
I agree we need a specialist there, and we got one with 32 games of experience over the past two seasons, his only two in the league. You can't beat that...a guy comes in as an OFA (undrafted rookie) with Tampa and snaps for them all 16 games in '01. He goes via expansion draft to Houston and snaps 16 games for them last year with no major gaffes, so I don't think we could have done much better on such short notice. I doubt if we could have talked Trey Junkin out of retirement. :)
So, anyway Mare is perfect with McD snapping, but he was just as perfect last week with Zgonina snapping. The only problems are that Jeff, first of all, tapes his hands to play DT, and can't snap that way, which was why we got the delay of game penalty against Tampa on the 2nd punt, Ed was debating on whether he could hobble out there and snap and Jeff was getting the tape cut off his hands, but couldn't get out there in time. Then, secondly, for optimum snapping performance, one needs to devote a lot of time working with the holder, kicker and punter, and Jeff can't do that and put all he has into being the critical 3rd DT as well. Ironically, Jeff was originally drafted by the Steelers to be their long snapper. Although he'd been a very good college DT, few if anyone felt he had the tools necessary to be a pro DT and that snapping would be his ticket to a long pro career. I guess he just wanted to prove everyone wrong. :) It is also nice to know that we've a very solid backup long snapper, just in case (perish forbid) the need ever arises during a game.
