Sometimes, in the famous words of Joni Mitchell, you don’t know what you‘ve got. Till it’s gone.
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, they found that out at the long-snapper position back in 2008.
On Oct. 26 during a Week 8 game versus the New York Giants, longtime long snapper Greg Warren went down with a significant knee injury, putting the Steelers in a major bind. Unlike other positions on the roster, long snapper doesn’t have a dedicated backup. Heck, teams largely don’t even have someone practice as a long snapper just in case.
The Steelers wish they did that day as after Warren went down in stepped none other than James Harrison.
During an appearance on the Pirate Radio show for East Carolina University, Warren recalled that injury and the moments after it when Harrison — never scared of anyone or anything — stepped up in a tough situation.
“Yeah, it was just one of those freak things. I was running down on a punt. My knee gave out on me. I may have stepped in a hole. Still not really sure what happened, but it was a non-contact injury and knee bent the exact opposite way it’s supposed to, and I went down. In the NFL, we don’t have backups for long snappers or kickers or punters, and quite frankly, nobody even practiced it,” Warren said, according to video via the Pirate Radio TV YouTube page. “Guys that weren’t just in case of an emergency situation. And so we’re on the sidelines and everybody’s looking around because there was no way I could play. And everybody’s looking and they’re like, ‘I don’t want to do it, I’m not gonna do it.; Everybody’s just scared at that point because nobody had ever done it. And who steps up?
“James Harrison, Defensive Player of the Year. He says, ‘Hey, I’ll do it. I’m not scared,’ because he is literally not scared of anything.”
Nothing fazes Harrison. He fears no man, no situation.
That was the case that day against the Giants.
Harrison, who was dominant that season on the way to winning his only Defensive Player of the Year award, wasn’t called upon initially as a long snapper in the game. At one point, instead of trying a 51-yard field goal with Jeff Reed, the Steelers went for it on 4th and 5, leading to a Ben Roethlisberger interception.
But then the Steelers needed Harrison in the fourth quarter to snap the ball on a punt. The Steelers were backed up deep in their own territory.
As is well known, it went poorly. Harrison snapped the ball over punter Mitch Berger’s head for a safety, tying the game at 14-14 as the Steelers eventually went on to lose to the Giants, 21-14.
“He got in the game and we were backed up, I think on like the 5-yard line or something, and he snapped it as hard as he could. And being that he’s probably the strongest man in the NFL, he snapped it through the uprights,” Warren recalled. “And it was something to be seen, but it certainly put a little spotlight on the importance of having a long snapper, but also the importance of having an emergency backup and somebody just capable of getting the ball back.
“But he actually had a couple snaps after that as well that was able to connect with the punter, and they were able to get it off. But certainly, one that people remember when I think it literally might have gone through the uprights.”
It did not go through the uprights, but boy was it a high snap from Harrison.
What a moment in Steelers history.
After the loss to the Giants, head coach Mike Tomlin defended using Harrison due to the outside linebacker snapping during training camp and in practices. Though he acknowledged it’s harder to snap the football in-stadium than in relaxed environments like practice, Tomlin doubled down and said he would have done the same thing again using Harrison as the emergency long snapper.
Fortunately for the Steelers, they went out and signed Jared Retkofsky to replace Warren, who suffered a torn ACL. The Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl that year and didn’t need Harrison long snapping again.
Quite the moment in Steelers history though, no doubt.
