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Yesterday’s edition of The Washington Post had an excellent feature story on kickers by Michael Leahy.  Leahy’s piece, called “Kicked Around:Inside Football’s Loneliest Position”, describes the trials and tribulations of place kickers, including the up and down career of current Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff.  Also included in the story was Graham Gano of the Redskins, who ironically missed two key field goals and an extra point in yesterday’s loss to the Bucs.

Snappers can certainly relate to the story of how kickers have a difficult journey finding and maintaining employment in the NFL.  The story concludes with a telling comment from Cundiff’s wife, who stated “It’s always about the next kick.”

Week Thirteen is now complete.  The snapping position remains stable with no significant performance or injury issues.

Earlier this week, the Chiefs announced a two-year contract extension for Thomas Gafford, who is now under contract through 2012.  Pat Mannelly of the Bears set a record in last week’s game against the Eagles by playing in his 200th regular season game, which is a Bears record.

On the tackle front, Mike Leach of the Cardinals leads all snappers with seven tackles, five of which are solo tackles after adding a solo stop this week.  Clark Harris (Bengals), Zak DeOssie (Giants) and Mike Windt (Chargers) also had solo tackles.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Thirteen is below.

NFL Thirteen NFL Long Snappers Chart

Week Twelve is in the books and Saints rookie snapper Justin Drescher made his NFL debut on Thursday.  Only the Patriots (two), Saints (three) and Chargers (five) have used different snappers this season.

Clark Harris of the Bengals had a solo tackle in punt coverage this week, while Greg Warren (Steelers), Garrison Sanborn (Bills), JJ Jansen (Panthers) and Mike Windt (Chargers) each added assisted tackles.  The NFL Long Snapper Chart after Week Twelve is below.

Week Twelve NFL Long Snappers Chart

Week Eleven brought a snapping change that proved to be a temporary one.  The Saints were forced to put veteran snapper Jason Kyle on injured reserve just prior to Sunday’s game and signed former Patriot snapper Jake Ingram on short notice.  Ingram had some issues in Sunday’s game and, after some additional workouts yesterday, the Saints have signed Justin Drescher, a rookie from Colorado who was in camp with the Falcons this summer.

John Denney of the Dolphins (two solo) and Mike Leach of the Cardinals (two assisted) each recorded two tackles this week, while Morgan Cox (Ravens), Cullen Loeffler (Vikings) and Jon Dorenbos (Eagles) had solo stops.  The NFL Long Snappers Chart through Week Eleven is attached below.

Week Eleven NFL Long Snappers Chart

Week Ten of the NFL season is complete.  Matt Katula made his snapping debut this season with the Patriots on Sunday night.  Other than the Patriots move, the snapping position has remained stable.  Just one snapper, Lonie Paxton of the Broncos, had a solo tackle in punt coverage.

The Week Ten NFL Long Snapper Chart is below.

Week Ten NFL Long Snappers Chart

Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News is mentioned here frequently, as he does an excellent job of covering the NFL  generally and special teams play in particular through his end of season ranking of each special teams unit. 

In his regular column this week, Gosselin previews the 2011 NFL Draft for specialists and includes two snappers.  Gosselin, based on his sources, has ranked Andrew Schulze (Iowa) and Zach Enyeart (Washington State) as the top snappers for the Draft in April.

The first snapping move of the regular season that did not involve the Chargers occurred today, as the Patriots waived second-year snapper Jake Ingram and added veteran Matt Katula, who was released by the Ravens in training camp.  Ingram had been erratic over the last few games, prompting the Pats to make a move. 

In other snapping news, the Giants have extended the contract of snapper Zak DeOssie through a reported two-year extension.

Week Nine is complete and featured yet another punting issue when a San Diego punt was deflected against the Texans.  This time, the Chargers were able to overcome the error.  

Snappers Mike Leach (Arizona) and Thomas Gafford (Kansas City) each had two solo tackles on punt coverage.  Pat Mannelly (Chicago), John Denney (Miami) and Clint Gresham (Seattle) each had one solo tackle each, while Don Muhlbach (Lions) had an assisted tackle.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Nine is below.

Week Nine NFL Long Snappers Chart

Special teams play has been critical this season and there are more numbers and theories to document and explain this development.  The Chargers lost four games to kicking game issues and a number of other games have turned on this critical aspect of the NFL.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated weighed in on this issue recently and highlighted five games where special teams play made a difference.  King’s article notes that Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News, who annually ranks special teams units, found that, through Week Seven last season there were 38 “explosive plays” on special teams.  These are either touchdown returns, blocks and turnovers.  This year, through the same timeframe, there have been 63!

Previously, Longsnap.com described the rule change that prevents a player from lining up over the snapper.  This has creating some blocking issues and led to larger gaps in the middle of the field, such as the recent play in which Browns punter, Reggie Hodges, executed a fake punt in which he ran for 68 yards.  This change, combined with the elimination of the four player wedge blocking on kicks, may be a key factor in the big special teams plays.

Week Eight is complete and featured another special teams issue for the Chargers when the Titans blocked a punt for a safety.  It was the fourth time this season the Chargers had a punt blocked.  Three snappers, Garrison Sanborn (Bills), Andrew Economos (Bucs) and Ken Amato (Titans), each recorded solo tackles.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Eight is posted below.

Week Eight NFL Long Snappers Chart