The Giants' Secret Weapon: a Shrieking Long-SnapperQuote
Over his seven-year NFL career, Zak DeOssie has quietly established himself as one of the league's premier players at his position.
The Giants long-snapper has two Super Bowl rings and a pair of Pro Bowl invitations. He hasn't missed a single game since joining the team. His success is widely credited to his athleticism, solid character and dedication to his craft.
But it turns out there is another, less publicized attribute that has helped make DeOssie one of the game's most effective special-teams operators.
New York Giants long snapper Zak DeOssie reacts to making the tackle with defensive back Will Hill by him during a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
He shrieks like a scalded wildcat.
While most long snappers spend their careers attempting to remain as unobtrusive as possible, DeOssie takes a different approach. When he runs downfield on punt coverage, he emits a piercing, high-pitched howl that is expressly employed to alert anyone within earshot to his whereabouts on the field.
"That's my battle cry, my war cry," said DeOssie. "It's just a loud shrill or shriek. If you're trying to catch the ball, I'm going to let you know I'm there."
DeOssie doesn't need to advertise his presence on the Giants coverage team. He may be the only long-snapper in the league who is as renowned for tackling as he is for accurately throwing a ball between his legs. Since 2011, he has made 18 special-teams tackles, twice as many as any other long-snapper in the league, according to Stats LLC.
His collection of shrieks, screeches and war whoops are actually designed to drive punt returners to the point of distraction. By squealing at the top of his lungs at the precise moment they're preparing to field a catch, DeOssie hopes to divert the returner's attention from the flight of the ball to the ungodly sound emanating from his lips.
"I just figured that if you're trying to call a fair catch or you're not sure what to do, add another variable to the situation that's going to make you think a little bit more," DeOssie said. "How would you react if you had a 255-pound guy bearing down on you and screaming as loud as he can?"
Given that DeOssie has just one forced fumble in his career, the record suggests few punt returners are unduly flustered by the tactic. But the Giants say those numbers don't give an accurate reading of how surprisingly effective it has been.
The team's preseason opener in Pittsburgh is a case in point. Steelers returner David Gilreath appeared so perturbed by DeOssie's earsplitting wolf-howl as he attempted to field a third-quarter punt last Saturday that he allowed the ball to bounce off his shoulder pads, leading to a recovery by Giants safety Tyler Sash.
The official statistics recorded the incident as a muffed punt rather than crediting DeOssie with a forced fumble, but Sash has no doubts about what really caused the turnover. "You know that it's in the back of their mind," Sash said. "DeOssie running down full speed like a madman, that gets in a returner's head."
The effectiveness of the tactic isn't the only thing that remains unclear. Its lawfulness is also decidedly murky. "That's the thing," said DeOssie. "Technically, I'm not sure that it's entirely legal."
In fact, there is nothing in the NFL rule book that specifically prohibits a member of the punt coverage unit from trying to distract a returner by screaming or yelling as he prepares to field the ball. But the laws governing unsportsmanlike conduct do call for a penalty for the use of "acts or words by the defensive team that are designed to disconcert an offensive team."
To date, NFL spokesman Michael Signora said that has been applied only to actions by the defense that cause the offense to false start. "Now, the officials always have the ability to throw a flag for something they consider a 'palpably unfair act,' but we know of no situation in which a flag has been thrown in this situation," he said.
Legal issues aside, DeOssie is less concerned about the ethical dimension. While some may frown at the practice of yawping at a professional athlete to put them off their game, he has no such qualms. "In other sports, it might be looked at as bad etiquette. They probably wouldn't accept it at Wimbledon," he said. "But we push the envelope when it comes to those things."
DeOssie draws the line at shouting anything specific at opponents, however. That would be disrespectful, he says. But after successfully causing a turnover in Pittsburgh, he will continue hollering at unsuspecting opponents to give his team an edge.
"If there is even a 0.001% factor in me running downfield and screaming as loud as I can and hoping that they might even think about me in the back of their mind, that's a win," he said. "So why not run down there and do it?"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323455104579012540737751988.html?mod=rss%5Fnewyork%5FsportsROFL... DeOssie is the fucking man... best long-snapper in the NFL come at us
This post was edited by xnozx. on Aug 14 2013 05:42pm