Lonie Paxton
This Job Far From A Snap

August 10, 2004
Mike Reiss
Metro West Daily News


FOXBORO -- Of the many responsibilities in football, few appear to be easier than this:

Bend over, clutch the ball with two hands, put your head down, and fire the ball backward between your legs.

The long snap.

For a punt, it's about 15 yards. A field goal is about half that distance.

We're not exactly on the cutting edge of football innovation here, but nonetheless, the importance and difficulty of the unique skill was reinforced during the Patriots' 2003 Super Bowl season.

Starter Lonie Paxton, considered an ace in the specialized snapping field, suffered a season-ending knee injury after 13 games. Then the team signed free agent Sean McDermott and he endured a season-ending shoulder injury after one game. Enter Brian Kinchen, who sliced his finger while cutting a bagel on the morning of Super Bowl XXXVIII, nearly putting the team in an unprecedented long-snapping flux on championship day.

Since the snapper is the trigger man on punts and field goals, such instability threatened to paralyze the Patriots' special teams. Think, for a moment, what might have happened had the jittery Kinchen botched the snap on kicker Adam Vinatieri's final attempt. This region would have had a new Bill Buckner to kick around for the next 18 years.

Yet in a sign of how the position is viewed -- most of the attention comes when a mistake is made -- it's no surprise that hardly a word has been spoken since about the team's long-snapping chores.

In an attempt to explore different aspects of football through the lens of the Patriots, today we're heading in the huddle with Paxton and the other snapper in training camp, rookie Brian Sawyer of Florida State.

"Some people might take it for granted, might not think it's as hard as it is," says Sawyer, who snapped in 52 games for the Seminoles over the last four years. "The snapping is one part, but when you add in that every time it's a pressure situation, and the defense is coming at you full speed, it takes work."

Here are some primary snapping points to consider:

  • On punts, the Patriots' goal is to complete the entire snap-to-punt process in 2.1 seconds. Since a punter usually takes 1.3 seconds to catch the ball and punt, the snap should be delivered in .75 seconds or less.

    "The punt blocks usually happen at 2.2, 2.3," explains Paxton. "An above average snap is in the high .6s, low .7s."

  • Accuracy is also a big part of the equation.

    "(On punts), you want to keep (the punter) in the cup," says Paxton of the imaginary circle created by blockers. "So we have a strike zone, a box, that we try to keep the snap in -- from shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip. Our coach (Brad Seely) wants the snap at the bellybutton."

    Adds Sawyer, "The punter has a spot in front of him, about five yards, which all the defensive guys are aiming for to try to block it, because that's where he'll end up. If you snap it to the right or left of that spot, it takes time to get back. So you want the tight spiral, straight back."

  • On field goals, it's all about delivering the ball to the holder with the laces out.

    • "Straight up and down, 12 o'clock laces, midnight," says Paxton. "Six o'clock is the worst, because (the laces) are backward, then (the holder) has to spin them. Then it might keep spinning off the spot Adam set."

    Adds Sawyer, "It all depends on the rotation of the ball. You want to find a speed where every time the holder catches it, those laces are out."

  • On field goals, the mission is to complete the snap-to-kick process in 1.35 seconds.

    • A few other points of emphasis: the follow through is key on every snap; snaps on punts take more leg strength than arm strength; weather is a variable that opens up all sorts of possibilities.

    "There's a big difference when you're snapping in a snowstorm, with the game on the line, in the playoffs against the Raiders," Paxton says.

    Naturally, long snappers are some of the most anonymous players in the game, although many enjoy prolonged careers. Kansas City's Kendall Gammon (13th year) is the league's senior snapper, while former Patriot and current Eagle Mike Bartrum (11th year) is one of seven trigger-men with double-digit years of NFL experience.

    Overall, Paxton (5th year) says each of the NFL's 32 snappers have different styles. He holds his index finger close to his thumb to explain the minute difference between the league's best and worst snappers.

    Because of this, what often separates them is how they deal with pressure.

    Come Friday, when the Patriots host the Eagles in the preseason opener at Gillette Stadium, Sawyer will likely assume all the snapping duties because Paxton hasn't practiced with full contact yet.

    That's plenty of pressure for a rookie trying to make the club, or at least the expanded eight-man practice squad.

    "The anxiety is the biggest thing, the pressure and build-up," he says. "Once I run out on the field, I block everything out, get set up over the ball, and start firing them back just like I'm at practice."