NFL goes “Back to School-er”

In their week two battle against the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots and Brendan Schooler may have changed the game of football forever.

For those unfamiliar, Patriots ST Brendan Schooler proved himself to be an irreplaceable Patriot of the post-Brady era. With future hall-of-fame ST Matthew Slater’s retirement imminent, Schooler’s primed to take over as special teams leader for the foreseeable future. His absence was noted in a 2022 matchup against the Buffalo Bills – a game in which the Patriots uncharacteristically allowed two kickoff return touchdowns.

Schooler & the Pats introduced a new wrinkle to NFL special teams in game two — yet it wasn’t a simple feat of athleticism and luck. Instead, this was the result of a well-timed and cleverly executed plan. Pre-snap, Schooler lined up near the Miami gunner. Instead of remaining in coverage, he sprinted parallel to the line of scrimmage. As the ball was snapped, Schooler turned up field, perfectly positioned to cross the LOS unimpeded resulting in a spectacular blocked field goal.

Schooler exploited a “giveaway” or “tell” to time his field goal block. Sometimes, the long-snapper will have some form of “head tilt” tell (a ‘look up, look down’ kind of thing). However, Schooler’s eyes weren’t locked on the long snapper — they were trained on the holder. Further review of the play revealed a specific step in the Miami holder’s cadence — 

1. The holder looked to the kicker, then
2. he looked back to the long snapper, 
3. dropped his head and shoulders, and 
4. gave the hand signal to snap the ball.

That dropping of the head and shoulders was Brendan Schooler’s cue to get on his horse – the result was a game-changing play. Below is a clip which provides a solid visual breakdown:

It’s a fun adaptation to special team rule changes over the past decade. In a 2016 matchup, former Patriots LB Jamie Collins jumped over the Indianapolis Colts longer-snapper to block an extra-point attempt. Collins was one of several NFL players who used this tactic, albeit rarely, until it was ruled illegal by the league shortly after. Schooler’s fantastic effort last Sunday was the workaround teams have searched fo

Moments of simple genius like these make football great, and it’s hard not to ponder the ramifications of its implementation. There are counters, of course. In baseball, the pitcher and catcher have several ‘sequences’ to communicate pitch signals. If their opponent deciphers a sequence, the pitcher and catcher switch to another. Long-snappers, holders, and kickers around the league may have to adopt a similar practice. NFL athletes should be capable of implementing it into their game, but it only takes a split-second of miscommunication to gravely affect special teams in high-tension scenarios. If nothing else, this play provided a jolt of excitement in a Patriots season that is not off to a good start.