James Harrison as long snapper?
James Harrison is the Steelers’ backup long snapper????? WTF???!!!!
Is it just me, or were other Steelers fans completely baffled when James Harrison lined up as the Steelers’ long snapper when Greg Warren went out with an injury? If you had told me prior to Sunday’s game that the Steelers coaching staff would ever use James Harrison as a long snapper in an actual NFL game, I would have accused you of smoking one of Santonio Holmes’ special cigars. But use him they did. Even after the fact, I’m still stunned.
To make matters worse, after James Harrison launched his first (and hopefully last) long snap over punter Mitch Berger’s head, I saw James Farrior warming up on the sidelines to give it a try on the next punt. These are definitely signs of the apocalypse. Repent, for the end is near.
I’ll be the first to admit that I know about as much about long snapping as I do about cold fusion. Nevertheless, I am completely confused by why the Steelers have a linebacker as their backup long snapper. Afterall, they have a guy on their team named Justin Hartwig. You know, the center. The guy who is paid to snap the ball for a living. Sure, he makes his living performing regular snaps, but how much different can a long snap be? Isn’t it pretty much the same as snapping the ball to Ben Roethlisberger while he’s in the shotgun formation? Something tells me that if Hartwig had snapped the ball to Berger, it wouldn’t have gone 10 feet over his head.
Or how about Darnell Stapleton? You know, the undrafted free agent who has worked his way up to Steelers’ starting right guard. He was the starting center for Rutgers while in college. In fact, he was so good at it that he was a finalist for the Rimington Trophy, which is awarded annually to the best center in college. Are you telling me that guy has never snapped the ball to a punter before?
I’ve never been a fan of Steelers offensive line coach Larry Zierlein. This latest debacle just cemented that opinion.
The Steelers were dominating the Giants until the point where Harrison snapped the ball over Mitch Berger’s head for a safety. After that, everything just seemed to change.
I’m not going to blame the loss on that one play. That would be silly. But I sure do wish the Steelers could take that one play back. Don’t you?
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Yes, James Harrison as long-snapper is a certified “WTF?!?!?!!” moment, sure to be one of the more infamous episodes in the Steelers’ history. I had to follow the game on the NFL website (at work with no TV or radio), and when this debacle occurred, even the person(s) behind the programming screwed up exactly _what_ had happened at first — and I can understand why! Un-beh-freakin’-lievable.
1I agree with you on the long snapper situation but I would like to add to it. Ben held the ball too long! When down by 7 points near the end of the game, why didn’t they go back to no-huddle and use more 5 wide formations? I won’t blame Harrison for the bad play,however I will blame Tomlin and the coaches for the bad decisions made to help the Giants win. Poor play calling, bad decision on replacing the long snapper, mediocre plays from the offensive line and Ben holding onto the ball too long caused that loss.
2Hard game for Steelers to lose. Injuries keep piling up , what next …….. How much longer can Ben survive under such pressure. Penalties killed important drive towards the end . Jury out on Colon and Starks . Hope Woodley is ok , reports of a leg injury going around. Giant line held Steelers to no sacks !!!!!!!!!!!
3The loss falls squarely on the shoulders of Mike Tomlin. The man reasons that his starting center would’nt be the best choice. Maybe my back-up center would be best, nah! I know, my starting OLB!! Yeah, my starting OLB!!! I’m a friggin genius!! Tomlin should have been suspended Sunday as well, ’cause the man is smokin’ some pretty powerful blunts of his own!
4I’m no fan of Larry Zierlein either… I have thought for the last 2 years Simmons was the weak link on the line, and now without him they have played better, so why did it take so long to get him in there, and why so many mental mistakes by Colon, not to mention his inability to block anyone running around him…
Anyway, Long Snapping is very different, the shotgun is 5 yards, a long snap is 17 yards, but I do agree, I would have given Justin the shot if I had a choice between the 2.. but it’s not uncommon for LBs to long snap.
5The bottom line is that somewhere this year the coaches have convinced Big Ben that he is Dan Marino. Where is the option right or left and then throw on the run that he was so good at the first two years? How many times are we going to see him scramble forward through the line to throw?
6Its not always the offensive line. 40% of these pressures and sacks couldve been eliminated if we used this as another thing the defense has to worry about. This is the main problem with the offense this year in my opinion.
Doug H.,
7I can only imagine what it must have been like trying to follow that play on the computer. Heck, it was confusing to me, and I was watching it on TV.
Bill and DJCYA,
I agree that the coaching staff holds a lot of responsibility for this loss. Once again, the offense started to play better when they went to the no-huddle. What does that say about your offensive coordinator when the offense is most effective when he is taken out of the equation?
As far as Tomlin’s culpability, I don’t hold him responsible. He was a defensive coordinator. He was never an offensive coordinator. Therefore I would expect him to depend on his offensive coaches to make the proper calls. He is much more likely to change a Dick LeBeau call, since that is his comfort zone. But I wouldn’t expect him to change an offensive call, since that is not his area of expertise.
I blame Bruce Arians and Larry Zierlein. Do those guys have a clue about how to counter an all-out blitz?
8John Y.,
Thanks for stopping by and dropping some knowledge. I did not realize that other teams have used LB’s as backup long snappers. I would have just assumed that the center is the most obvious backup.
Now that I understand a bit better, I’d STILL prefer to see Justin Hartwig as the backup rather than James Harrison.
9I totally agree about Hartwig being the substitute long snapper.Who is calling the plays!!!!!!!!!! You know its bad when the no huddle offense gets better results than the plays that are actually called!!!!!!!!!!The offensive coordinator need to keep Ben out of the 5 step drops, especially playing against a 4-3 defense.
10Amazine …to me its obvious that NOBODY was ready for this. It would seem that a back-up would be groomed and Practiced weekly for this. And yes a Center should be able to handle it. Hartwig was snapping hig to Ben ALL DAy… if he snapped regular it probably would go Right to Berger. lol….
11FreakofSteel,
I was struck by that too. It seemed like they were completely unprepared for the possibility that Warren would ever get hurt. Mike Tomlin preaches “position flexibility” during training camp. IMO, that should be a part of his sermon. Every Center should be required to learn how to do long snaps. Heck, if you could consolidate the Center and Long Snapper into one position, it would free up a precious roster slot for something more important like another linebacker, cornerback, or special teams ace.
Hopefully, Justin Hartwig started practicing long snaps immediately after the game.
12Sometimes I wonder who is running the show…I mean Dick LeBeau puts together water tight game plans while the offense goes MIA for much of the game, and Tomlin lets an OLB long snap. What must LeBeau think while he watches Tomlin’s offense poop the sheets? It’s GOT to be frustrating. Yeah, we were down a couple of weapons, but the play-calling hasn’t exactly been very imaginative or flexible either.
13no one hear know anything about football but the one guy who understood…hartwig never has to snap the ball longer than 5 yards and it doesn’t have to be a nice snap at that (as he showed a few times this year) but a long snap has to be a nice tight spiral almost like throwing a pass between your legs. it has to be fast quick and on target long snapping is a special thing that is why every team has one long snapper on the roster just like a kicker or punter
14jabsosteel,
I agree. Dick LeBeau is usually well-prepared from a defensive standpoint.
I disagree that it is Tomlin’s offense. Just like you give LeBeau credit for the defense, give Bruce Arians credit for the offense. He is the offensive coordinator. He is responsible for developing an offensive game plan that will work against the defensive formations that they are anticipating facing. He is the one who is supposed to make adjustments when the defense throws things at them that they didn’t anticipate. Frankly, it often appears that he does neither.
15Bythebigness,
Perhaps no one here understands anything about football, but we all understand that “here” is spelled h-e-r-e, not h-e-a-r. Kinda ironic that you would challenge everyone’s knowledge, and then immediately prove that you’re not smarter than a 5th grader.
We all understand what a long snapper does, and why teams only carry one on the roster. The question is why the backups are both linebackers. Both have never done it before (or didn’t you read James Harrison’s comments?). Apparently, both Harrison and Farrior have just played around with long snapping.
My point is that if you are going to have players prepare to be the backup long snapper, why not make it one of your Centers? It only makes sense to me. I may be wrong, but it would seem that between two career centers (Hartwig and Stapleton), one of them should probably have a bit of experience snapping a ball to a punter. And even if they don’t, they are a more logical choice to learn how to do so than a linebacker who has never snapped a ball in a game in his entire life.
Do you understand that logic? If so, you may proceed to the 6th grade.
16Long Snapping is an art and just because you snap in the shotgun formation doesn’t mean you can send it back quickly in a spiral 15 yards behind the line of scrimage. Moreover, with the roster restrictions it’s difficult to hold a back-up snapper. The best you can hope for is someone with SOME experience. I would guess Harrison snapped in college or even high school. It was a nice ball… just a little to hard/high.
I’m curious to see who the Steelers pick up on the wire. Rob Davis from Green Bay coming out of retirement perhaps???
17