DeOssie delivers for NY

NFL. Tomorrow, when the Patriots play their regular-season finale, New Englanders will have one more reason for hoping the Giants’ offense sputters. He’s North Andover’s Zak DeOssie, the Giants’ rookie who long snaps on punts and has gained a reputation of beating everyone downfield on return coverage.

DeOssie began long-snapping during his days at Phillips Academy, but it’s his athleticism that provides an extra dimension.

“No one blocks the long snapper,” he said, “so I’m going to run downfield. Most long snappers don’t run a 4.5 [40-yard dash], so I try to take advantage of that.”

Nonetheless, skills and athleticism aren’t always enough, especially when you’re going from Brown University into the NFL. For DeOssie, the remaining ingredient came from dad Steve, who played 12 pro seasons as a linebacker and long snapper, leveraging a tenacious work ethic into a starting role for the Giants.

“The only thing I ever told him about football was that [he’s] got to work harder than anybody else on the team,” says the elder DeOssie.

The effectiveness of dad’s advice can be found in the league’s resulting adjustments. Nowadays, Zak expects to get jammed by the biggest members of opposing punt return squads every time out.

“It came to the point where they’d have to account for me, which opened up other people on my punt team,” he said.

Zak’s skills have also earned him spots on both kickoff and kick return teams, but potential risks to his snapping skills cost him the latter. Still, the added duty will provide even more opportunity to foil history tomorrow.

“I want to beat the Pats,” he said. “I know they’re going to be pushing for the perfect season, but who knows? Maybe I’ll be a part of it.”