BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills can’t be pinned on Arizona Cardinals long snapper Kameron Canaday, but for the third straight game, he had a bad snap, leading coach Bruce Arians to say he’ll take a longer look at the undrafted rookie.
“We’ll have to evaluate that a little bit further,” Arians said.
This week’s mistake came in the third quarter, when a high snap couldn’t be corralled by holder Drew Butler. The fumble was picked up by Buffalo’s Aaron Williams, who returned it 53 yards for a touchdown.
The mishap came two weeks after a low snap led to Chandler Catanzaro missing a game-winning field goal with 41 seconds left against New England in Week 1. Last week, Arians called Canaday “erratic again.”
After Sunday’s 33-18 loss, Arians said fixing Canaday’s snapping issues comes down to one thing: fixing his mental state.
“Grow the hell up,” Arians said. “It has nothing to do with anything but what’s between his ears.”
Canaday didn’t have much to say after the loss, responding to five questions in 27 words.
On how he felt about the snap: “It’s tough.”
On what exactly happened: “It was just high.”
Canaday did say he’s not worried about what each snap means.
“Just move on,” he said. “That’s about it.”
Catanzaro said he has approached Canaday and told him every specialist has been in his shoes.
“We’ve all been there. We’ve all fallen,” Catanzaro said. “I think people make it out that football is life or death, and it’s really not. That’s what I told him after this. I told him God’s got a plan for him and he’s just got to keep fighting. He’s a heck of a snapper. There’s no doubt about that. He has all the tools to be a very successful snapper in this league. It’s tough.
“We’ve all failed on the big stage. As a specialist, it’s inevitable in the NFL. It’s how you bounce back. We’ll see how he responds.”
If he has a chance to respond.
Arians’ comments about evaluating Canaday could be interpreted in a range of ways. The Cardinals typically work out players on Tuesday.
