Time for a Kuehl change

Giants ecstatic over arrival of new long-snapper

ALBANY, N.Y. -- He is here now, safe and sound. And so the Giants' season is saved.

Ryan Kuehl reported to New York's training camp Thursday afternoon at the University at Albany, on time and ready to ease their pain.

Is there a pair of hands that the Giants and their fans care more about this season than those attached to Kuehl, the veteran long-snapper who was signed away from Cleveland during free agency? Does anybody need a reminder why?

When we last saw the Giants, of course, it was early January in San Francisco. Steve Mariucci still had a Bay Area address, and the team they call Big Blue was reeling and almost numb in the shocking aftermath of the Snap Heard 'Round the World.

Well, actually it was more like an aborted snap, and it neatly aborted the Giants' playoff drive, 39-38, ending New York's attempt to out-comeback the amazing 24-point second-half comeback that the 49ers pulled off in that wild-card game.

Veteran Trey Junkin, who had come out of retirement to serve as the Giants' fourth different long-snapper of the season, was the figure of infamy. It was his botched snap that bounced back to holder Matt Allen, giving kicker Matt Bryant absolutely no chance to kick what would have been a last-second, game-winning 41-yard field goal.

And so Kuehl is on hand. As is veteran punter Jeff Feagles. And veteran kicker Mike Hollis. And return man extraordinaire Brian Mitchell. Newcomers all. Tormented by the reality that they didn't get a do-over against the 49ers, the Giants settled for a wall-to-wall special teams makeover, the likes of which seldom has been witnessed in the NFL.

"I've never seen that, not the kicker, punter, snapper and return man all at once," said Kuehl, the easy-going seventh-year veteran of four NFL teams. "It's crazy, but that's what they felt like they needed to do. Obviously, this team feels pretty good about itself coming into this season on offense and defense. They felt like it was special teams that they needed to put some resources and some time and energy into, and that's what they did."

Feel pretty good about itself? One safely could assume that times are fairly heady when a team makes landing a long-snapper one of its highest offseason priorities. If this were Wall Street, the Giants' move would be hailed as a clear indication of a bull market.

Believe it or not, there were other needs in New York. The right side of the Giants' offensive line lost two players in free agency (tackle Mike Rosenthal and guard Jason Whittle), and the defensive-line rotation now includes a pair of rookies (William Joseph and Osi Umenyiora). Also, hidden in the wave of optimism is the fact that New York returns all 11 starters on defense, but that it's a defense that allowed San Francisco to mount that 24-point comeback in 20 minutes.

Still, it was the special teams problem that got instant attention. And top-notch attention. After finishing near the bottom of the league in almost every special teams category last season, the Giants within a week of free agency added one of the league's steadiest snappers in Kuehl, the NFL's finest field-position punter in Feagles and a return man who could be headed for the Hall of Fame in Mitchell. Later, they tacked on the highly accurate Hollis, who is expected to beat out incumbent Bryant, giving New York an all-veteran cast of special teams characters.

The Giants' moves made a believer out of running back Tiki Barber, the centerpiece of an offense that averaged 27 points a game last season after head coach Jim Fassel took over the play-calling duties from departed coordinator Sean Payton.

"Ernie [Accorsi, the Giants general manager] didn't mess around," Barber said Thursday, shortly after checking into New York's training camp. "He went right after it when free agency started. Went right after the guys he wanted. And I think we got some quality.

"It's the X-factor in this game, special teams. It can jack a team up or break its heart. It's about field position, and special teams control that. Brian Mitchell is one of the best at giving an offense field position, and Jeff Feagles is one of the best at taking it away from another team. That just shows you the attention to detail that we put on special teams this year, all the way down to the long-snapper. Because we found out the hard way that it's a very important position."

The hard way, indeed. Make it the most agonizing of ways. I asked Barber if he still saw the Giants' final play of last season in slow motion, with Junkin's snap rolling, rolling, rolling back to Allen instead spiraling. Yeah, Allen should have fallen on the ball and given the Giants another play. Yeah, the NFL admitted the next day that the game officials botched the downfield interference call on Allen's pass. No matter. It's Junkin's dribbler that will forever be emblazoned in our collective memory.

"Quite honestly, I wasn't watching when the play happened," Barber said. "I was walking the other way because I didn't want to see it. I always do that with clutch field goals. But I've seen it a million times replayed since that day. The crazy thing is, I watched [Junkin] on the sidelines, because they called a time out to ice Matt. And he hit about six or seven perfect snaps on the sideline. No problem. But then it was a bad snap in the game. It's just a sinking feeling."

Barber went on to make the obligatory comment about all the other mistakes that went into the Giants losing their huge lead and the game, and he's right. The defense stopped defending, the offense stopped scoring and New York's coaches were powerless to stem the 49ers onslaught.

But, sorry, that's not the way the NFL works. Despite being on the field a fraction of the time, special teams decide games every week. And it happened again in that big game, when the Giants couldn't convert in field goal situation.

And that's where an unsung guy like Kuehl comes in, even though he's a bit embarrassed by all the fuss. "There's so much talent on this team, that the last person anybody should be talking to or caring about is me," he said. "You shouldn't even waste any ink on what I do. I just get in the game and throw 'em back there, you know?"

We know. But it's the "throw 'em back there" part that was a little tricky in New York last year. And that's why I suspect there will be at least 52 guys in blue jerseys who have Kuehl's back this season. Shoot, the Giants might even let the 31-year-old University of Virginia graduate sit in the front of the team bus, with all the team's stars. All the better to make him feel like the most special of the Giants' special teams weapons.

Kuehl didn't witness Junkin's moment of humiliation until the highlights shows that night. He and his Cleveland teammates lost a heartbreaker themselves that day in the AFC's first round, in Pittsburgh. But from 3,000 miles away, Kuehl felt pain in his long-snapping heart.

"Oh, it was awful," Kuehl said. "You feel for him. I mean, Trey had such a great career and had done such a good job, flying under the radar like we all like to do. And he had done it for 18 or 19 years. It really was a cruel twist of fate. You don't wish that upon anybody."

But as the Giants sadly discovered, wishing has nothing to do with it. This year on special teams, they have no intention of leaving it to that.

Don Banks covers pro football for SI.com.

 

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