Zach DeOssie Back in Super Bowl with Giants

INDIANAPOLIS - The DeOssie family made headlines during Super Bowl XLII when son Zach and father Steve became the first father-son duo to win a championship with the same team. Steve was a member of the Giants for Super Bowl XXV in 1991.

Zach has a chance to one-up his father Sunday and win his second title as the Giants play New England in Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium.

DeOssie, who attended Phillips Academy in Andover and was All-New England Prep, grew up a Patriots fan. His father finished his career with the Patriots in 1995 and DeOssie also served as a ball boy for the organization for two years.

“It’s funny when you look back at it,” he said this week. “To be here playing them in the Super Bowl is incredible.”

A linebacker and long snapper in college at Brown, DeOssie has made his mark as a long snapper on special teams in the NFL, a key role in controlling intimate portions of the game. He said the answer to being a quality snapper is repetition.

“They say you do something 10,000 times in a row you become a professional at it,” he said. “I always long snapped in college and finally did it my senior year and sort of fell into this position at long snapper here with the Giants and fine-tuned it with the help of my coach and hard work.”

It helped that he has a professional football player for a father.

“He knows the intricacies of my job intimately and when need someone to talk to about my job or this and that he’s the first person,” he said. “Having him be a part of this whole thing is just a dream come true. He snapped his whole career. He did it for 12 years and I’m hoping to do the same thing.”

He said this time around he’s taking in the experience a bit slower so as not to lose memories in the whirlwind media sessions and practices leading up to Sunday’s game.

With the Giants holding a 7-7 start earlier in the 2011 season, Vegas odds makers weren’t on New York’s side then.

“It was a pretty tumultuous, up-and-down season but when our back is against the wall we perform and we perform well,” DeOssie said. “As long as all three phases click on Sunday, we’re going to put up a good fight and it’s going to be a great game.”

Follow @ChrisVaccaro via Twitter for updates from Super Bowl XLVI.