The Upside-Down World Of NFL Long Snappers
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2022
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Being a long snapper in the NFL is one of the stranger jobs in all of sports. You spend your time hunched over, trying to throw perfect spirals backwards and between your legs -- in high pressure situations – and no one really knows about you or cares about you unless something goes terribly, horribly wrong. Sports Illustrated’s Alex Prewitt recently went down the long snapping rabbit hole, and today he takes us into the upside-down world of these men – a world filled with quirky perfectionists, a lot of down time, and the desire to finally get the respect they feel they deserve.
Read Alex Prewitt's full story:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/11/16/inside-economics-evolution-politics-of-long-snappers-daily-cover
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to the lead, add free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. |
| 0:09.0 | Drilla Words is back for another season exclusively on Amazon Music. |
| 0:14.0 | We asked people to bring in three words of meaning and significance to their lives. |
| 0:19.0 | We used that as a springboard for conversation. |
| 0:21.0 | And then at the end of the show, we asked them for a word that they'd be happy never to hear again. |
| 0:26.0 | So that's Drilla Words with made John Bishop and Tony Pitts listen to it every Friday exclusively on Amazon Music. |
| 0:42.0 | Alex Pruitt, tell us about the game that gave Cincinnati Bengals fans a new appreciation for one of the teams more underappreciated players. |
| 0:51.0 | Well, it all kind of started pretty early in the fourth quarter of the Bengals season over against the Steelers when every special teams coaches and probably every head coach's nightmare too came true, which is that the Bengals long snapper veteran named Clark Harris got hurt. |
| 1:09.0 | Four seconds left. |
| 1:10.0 | Burrow down the net. |
| 1:11.0 | Touchdown. |
| 1:12.0 | Jump more. |
| 1:14.0 | Chase. |
| 1:15.0 | Late in the fourth quarter, Joe Burrow throws a six-yard pass to March A's to tie the game at 20 and out-hustles Mitchell Wilcox, the backup tight end for the first field goal or extra point snap of his NFL career. |
| 1:29.0 | We have a different long snapper, correct, Adam? |
| 1:31.0 | Yes. |
| 1:32.0 | By-step injury for Clark Harris. |
| 1:34.0 | So Mitchell Wilcox has come in to snap it. |
| 1:37.0 | Wilcox, a backup tight end. |
| 1:39.0 | This is not the time you want your backup snapper running out there. |
| 1:43.0 | But he could be a hero today. |
| 1:46.0 | You know, two seconds left, 2020 season opener on the line. |
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