Monday, October 14th, 2024

Kmet adds snap to winning performance

Craig Llewellyn

Editor

Kmet adds snap to winning performance

Craig Llewellyn

Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet will surely be remembered for the two-touchdown performance he put up in his team’s 35-16 win over Jacksonville in London, but will go down in the NFL annals for an anomaly that rarely happens.

When long snapper Scott Daly went down injured at the end of the Bears’ opening drive, Kmet suddenly found himself thrust into a role he had long consigned to the scrapbook.

“It’s definitely not a position I envisioned playing in the NFL — ever,” he laughed after the game. “But, you know, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do and there’s only so many guys you can dress on game day. You have to have somebody that can be the emergency [cover] and I’m that guy, reluctantly, at times. Someone found out that I did it in high school — these guys know everything about you. It was kind of like ‘the more-you-can-do’ thing, thinking that, if you ever needed to make a team, if you’re a guy that’s the 54 or 55 guy, that having that ability [will persuade them] to keep you on the roster for those type of things. Obviously, I’m not really in that position right now, but that was kind of the mindset of learning how to do it. It paid off today, I guess.”

Although Cairo Santos did miss a field goal deep into the fourth quarter, the kicker converted all five of his extra point attempts, including the first which followed directly on from Kmet’s opening touchdown.

“I didn’t know that Scott had been hurt until they told me I needed to go get some snaps in,” the tight end revealed. “I think I was tired enough on each of those where I’m not thinking about it in a sense. Like, okay, I’m going to shoot this ball between my legs real quick and get this over with. I get my two or three snaps in on Thursday and we go to Sunday and, you know, it’s all my biggest worry going into the game. The night of the game, I do run my head through all the scenarios and plays, and then I just think, ‘Gosh, I hope Scott don’t get hurt today’.

“I don’t really get nervous anymore to go out and play [tight end]. Maybe the first couple games of the season, because you’re a little unfamiliar from taking the big break but, once you get rolling in the season, it feels like game day is every other day. I don’t have that type of nervousness anymore because I’m just doing all those reps all the time and I just know what to expect, what I can do out there. But, as long snapper, it’s not like I have a ton of time on task like I do at tight end. But, at the end of the day, that’s kind of what this league is — you kind of just have to plug-and-play some guys. Guys are playing out of position here and there, and it just happened to be me today.”

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