B.J. Finney was standing in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex when he was asked about the recent spate of bad snaps that he and Maurkice Pouncey have delivered. But before he could barely begin his answer, Devlin Hodges walked by and interrupted.
“I’ve gotta catch ‘em,” Hodges said and he swiftly moved past. “I’ve gotta catch ‘em.”
Hodges’ take on the situation mirrors the answer coach Mike Tomlin gave last week when asked about Pouncey’s bad shotgun snaps during a 17-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Tomlin said that Pouncey has always struggled with snaps but that Ben Roethlisberger’s quick hands had always masked the problem.
But when both Pouncey and Finney – who entered the game after Pouncey suffered a knee injury – each had multiple low, high or wide snaps during a 16-10 loss at the New York Jets, it’s become fair to ask if the poor snapping is for some reason becoming a trend.
Finney says it’s not.
“Obviously you don’t ever want to have that happen,” Finney said, “but with the thousands of snaps that we take, if you have that many, those are going to happen. We’ve got to make sure they don’t, but they are going to happen so we just have to eliminate them as much as we can.”
This week's #Steelers "Airing of Grievances" after a costly loss to the Jets-No run game, poor QB play, drops, bad snaps, awful start of game, worse start to the third. https://t.co/fcGrlRKGNk Aside from that it was a great day. Happy friggin' Festivus @TribSports @TribLIVE
— Tim Benz (@TimBenzPGH) December 23, 2019
The bad snaps in recent weeks have gained notice in part because the offense is struggling so much (nine touchdowns in eight games) and in part because the misfired snaps have come at very inopportune times.
Against the Bills, a low snap from Pouncey on a wildcat play led to a fumble and turnover deep in Buffalo territory. A bad snap from Finney in the fourth quarter against the Jets dropped the Steelers out of possible field-goal range.
Finney could start at center during the regular-season finale at the Baltimore Ravens, pending the condition of Pouncey’s knee.
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