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It's no snap doing Dorenbos' job

JON DORENBOS takes pride in his durability, in being able to long-snap through every ding and dent he has suffered since he arrived here during the 2006 season, replacing injured Mike Bartrum. Sunday he tied Harold Carmichael's franchise record of 162 successive games started.

JON DORENBOS takes pride in his durability, in being able to long-snap through every ding and dent he has suffered since he arrived here during the 2006 season, replacing injured Mike Bartrum. Sunday he tied Harold Carmichael's franchise record of 162 successive games started.

So, what happened during a third-quarter Eagles punt Sunday? Why, Dorenbos was injured, of course. Went in for wrist X-rays. Did not return. Will see a hand/wrist specialist Monday, a source close to the situation said.

The next man up was tight end Brent Celek, who flubbed a snap on a Caleb Sturgis 50-yard field- goal attempt that ended up not being attempted, holder Donnie Jones tackled for a 14-yard loss that set Washington up with a short field for a touchdown drive. Celek did then snap perfectly on a punt.

Later, Celek suffered a stinger and left the game - hit by Deshazor Everett, who would later knock out Darren Sproles with a vicious hit while Sproles was defenseless, looking up to catch a punt - so the Eagles went to their third long snapper, which is, of course, tight end Trey Burton. Who didn't know that?

Burton snapped high on a 41-yard Sturgis field goal, but Jones brought it down and Sturgis made the kick.

It would seem likely the Eagles will make a roster move to bring in a long snapper, depending on how the specialist visit goes. Dorenbos played through a high-ankle sprain in 2012, but that didn't affect his snapping. A wrist is a bit different.

"I should have done better. I don't know what else to say. I should have done better," Celek said. "I'm a professional, and I should get it done."

Celek has snapped in the preseason, but somehow he didn't know about the kicking balls, which are different from balls used from scrimmage. "They use different balls, too, which is weird," Celek said. "I didn't realize that . . . (kicking balls) are slick. I don't know why they do that, but it was real waxy."

Asked whether the Everett hit on him was a cheap shot, Celek said: "I don't know. He hit me in the head and got penalized. It is what it is."

Burton said he was excited to get the opportunity.

"Donnie made an unbelievable play. The majority of it's on him, and he did a really good job," Burton said.

At Florida, Burton practiced as an emergency long snapper but never did it in a game, he said, though he played quarterback, fullback, wide receiver and tight end there.

Sturgis, Burton's teammate with the Gators, said he'd had to use backup long snappers before but had never had to work with a third guy.

"I had a lot of confidence that if the ball got in Donnie's hands, Donnie's going to get it down," Sturgis said. "Donnie did a great job. It was a little high. Trey did a good job, considering he probably didn't expect to long snap today. Fortunately, I've known Trey for a long time, and I'd trust Trey to play any position on the field. He just about has . . . Anybody I'd want to trust to do it, it'd be Trey."

On social media, fans wondered why none of the Eagles' centers could step in. Jason Kelce said afterward that he long snapped in high school, but as he got bigger, he was no longer flexible enough to perform the motion accurately. It's much more different from shotgun snapping than it looks, he said. And in fact, the Eagles' backup long snapper hasn't been an offensive lineman, in recent memory. When Mike Bartrum was the snapper, Chad Lewis was his backup.

Birdseed

Right guard Brandon Brooks has fallen ill on game day twice in the last three weeks, and twice in the previous two seasons, with Houston. Doug Pederson called it "something we just have to follow up with." Isaac Seumalo had to replace Brooks again, again without having practiced with the starters . . . Fletcher Cox managed his first sack since Oct. 9 at Detroit and the Eagles' first since Seattle. Cox and Bennie Logan later split a sack, but in the second half, Kirk Cousins wasn't under a lot of pressure. Cousins went 5-for-5 for 131 yards and two touchdowns in a horrible third quarter for the Eagles, offensively and defensively . . . Before he was viciously eliminated from the game by Deshazor Everett, Darren Sproles became the first player in NFL history with 30-plus receiving TDs, 20-plus rushing TDs, and five-plus total kick and punt return touchdowns.

@LesBowen

Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog