National Football League

Veteran long-snapper signed by Seahawks

Published Dec. 22, 2009 6:41 p.m. ET

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For the third time in three seasons, Seattle has brought in Jeff Robinson to be the Seahawks' long-snapper.

Robinson was signed on Tuesday to replace Kevin Houser.

Houser was placed on injured reserve after suffering a collapsed lung following the Seahawks 24-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Houser went to the hospital following the game and a team spokesman said that he was still in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon.

``I feel bad for Kevin and that's a serious deal,'' Robinson said. ``Obviously the situation with the team isn't super great either so I'm just happy to fill in and glad the organization had me back.''

Robinson has been working with his wife's health-and-wellness business and caring for their 2-year old daughter May Louise when the Seahawks came calling once again.

``The thing that's good about Jeff is that I know him well having coached him before,'' special team coach Bruce DeHaven said. ``You know probably what you're going to get unless he's gone to pieces in a year, which he hasn't. He came out here and snapped very good today.''

Houser had played well for the Seahawks before Sunday's injury. He was hurt covering a punt against the Buccaneers during the second quarter. He returned to snap on an extra point at the end of the first half and then took the field again in the third quarter to snap on a punt.

Sammie Stroughter broke a return up the sideline. Houser made a diving attempt to tackle him, but came up empty. Houser remained down on the sideline and later was taken to the locker room.

``When he came off the field after that third punt, I knew something was wrong,'' punter Jon Ryan said. ``He is tougher than a two-dollar steak that kid. He wanted to keep on going in there and eventually the doctors almost had to physically remove him from the sideline because he would have kept on going with a collapsed lung.

``That's like old-time NFL football right there, a guy playing with a collapsed lung and won't come out.''

Houser was replaced by 180-pound cornerback Kelly Jennings.

Seattle has struggled to fill the long snapper position since Jean-Philippe Darche left via free agency for Kansas City after the 2006 season. Derek Rackley and Boone Stutz weren't able to keep the job and the Seahawks had to bring in Robinson late in the 2007 season.

The team then drafted Tyler Schmitt in the sixth-round to end the problems. However, Schmitt had several back problems as a rookie and never snapped in one game for the team.

When Tim Lindsay didn't work out as a replacement, they brought Robinson back out of retirement for a second time.

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