J.P. Darche, a native of St. Laurent, Quebec, recently spoke with NFLCanada.com and journalists from across the country about football in Quebec and life in the NFL.
Darche started playing football at Montreal’s Notre Dame High School, and later joined the CIS McGill Redmen as a linebacker. After perfecting the specialized skill of the long snap in 2000, Darche signed a free agent contract with the NFL Seattle Seahawks and has bee with the squad ever since. Darche is one of 13 Canadians to start the season on NFL rosters.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
J.P., it’s Dan Ralph for the Canadian Press in Toronto. I just wanted to ask you about life in the NFL. I mean when you left Toronto you left a pretty good situation with the Argos to go to an uncertain, you know, NFL career, and basically five year’s later you’re there, you’re one of the best long-snappers in the National Football League, and you know, you’re doing something that, you know, that you’re getting paid very well to do.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
I got pretty lucky I guess. I was fortunate to have an opportunity down here with the Seahawks. I mean I came out, ah, I came out to training camp one year, there was another guy competing for the job, and I just figured I had nothing to lose, give it a shot, try it one year and then take it one year at a time. And now we’re six years into it and things are going really well and I’m, ah, I feel really fortunate and I’m really enjoying every minute of it.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
Are you surprised that I mean five, six years later we’re still talking to you as a long-snapper?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Well I mean if you had told me that when I was getting ready to leave, yeah, I would have said yes I’m very surprised. You know, the way things have gone, the way that things unfolded and how the league is right now, ah, you know, everybody has a long-snapper, everybody keeps him for a while, so, ah, and things have been going well, so I mean I’m not too surprised about it, but I never would have predicted it.
François Ferland, Journal de Montréal
Oui Philippe, François Ferland du Journal de Montréal.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Oui, bonjour, François.
François Ferland, Journal de Montréal
Good, good. Écoute. Pour les collègues anglophones, j’vas dire que j’vas d’abords poser ma question en français. Pi après ca, j’vais répéter ma question en anglais. Tu répondras par la suite.
Ah, it’s François Ferland of the Montréal Journal and I’m going to ask first in French a question to Louis-Philippe and then I will repeat my question in English.
Um, Louis, quelle serais les, selon toi, les facteurs expliquant ton succès avec les Seahawks? Parce que—écoutes, c’est quand même exceptionnelle d’être si longtemps avec une équipe de la NFL pour un, un Québécois, tout l’monde le sai, c’est tellement difficile de percer. Alors les principaux facteurs qui font tes succès?
I just asked Louis-Philippe what are the, ah, to him, what are the main factors of his success, why he’s been able to stay so long with the Seattle Seahawks.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
En Français, okay. La raison que j’pense que j’ai pu rester longtemps comme ca c’est que—premièrement, ma position—ca demande d’être constant pi d’être… C’est vraiment – c’est la constance à toute les jours, à toute les matchs. C’est probablement autant mental que c’est physique – ma job – c’est une job qui a pas beaucoup—t’as pas beaucoup de crédits. Souvent—c’est rare que tu avoirs dans les journaux – dire, ah, y fait une bonne job. Mais si ca va mal, la c’est sure que tu vas – tout le monde vas essayer de te blâmer. C’est une position de peu – peu de compliments pi il y a beaucoup de critiques quand ca va mal. Y faut que tu sois mentalement fort pi tu sois—capable de dealer avec les pressions pi de tout le temps performer constamment pour être sure que… La dernière affaire que j’veux avoir c’est perdre du sommeil pi se soucié de que ce qui va arriver avec les longues (inaudible).
François Ferland, Journal de Montréal
Okay. Alors c’est le principal facteur que tu vois ca?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Oui. C’est le fait que pendent toute c’est années las, j’ai été capable d’être constant pi… Ce qui aide aussi, moi—je suis en peu plus petit que la majorité des gas dans ma position mais s’qui arrive c’est que—j’courts mieux, j’capable de faire des plaqués—faire d’autres jeux un petit peux plus. Ca ca l’aide aussi. Ca c’est un plus.
François Ferland, Journal de Montréal
J’veux-tu me rappeler avant que je te laisse aller en anglais—ta grandeur/ton poids s’il te plait.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
J’fais 6’1/240 livres.
Katie Hammill, SLAM! Sports
Hi, J.P. It’s Katie Hammill with SLAM! Sports. You’re definitely now a veteran with the Seahawks; can you tell us which teams in your division you think have made the biggest improvements over the off season and who’s going to be your biggest competition this season?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
It’s always difficult to predict who’s going to be good. We consider ourselves, we’re the defending division champions so we consider ourselves, you know, the best team in our division, and then there’s, ah, the Rams are always our, ah, kind of been our nemesis the last few years. We won the division but they beat us three times in a row last year, including the playoff game, so they’re always tough. They always have that explosive offence and they seem to have upgraded their defence again. And Arizona is the other team in our division that’s made really big strides from two years ago. Last year they improved and this year they’re probably going to be a lot better than they were, and they’re going to be, ah, they won’t be easy to beat at all. And then the last team in our division is San Francisco. You know, they should be, they’re more of a team in rebuilding, but you can never, you know, you can’t take it easy. There’s always—every team in the NFL can beat any team, you know, on any given day, so…but really like the Rams and the Cars are going to be our big competition.
Katie Hammill, SLAM! Sports
Great. Thanks. A quick other question: it seems that grassroots football in Québec seems to be growing a lot, even faster than most other places in Canada; why do you think that is and why are these kids picking up footballs rather than hockey sticks or soccer balls or…?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah, I think you’re definitely right. Québec’s done real well in football recently and I think the biggest reason is the Alouettes when they came back and they’ve had so much success and they did, like with Larry Smith and all those people, they did such a good job at selling the game to the people because, you know, Montréal is, ah, the whole province is a hockey province pretty much, and then when the Alouettes came in all that success and all that, you know, they did a good job marketing it and all that, so people got into that. And then the, ah, you know, the French universities have started programs, like University of Laval and then Montréal and Sherbrooke now, so that kind of brings—because you used to have kids that didn’t speak English and didn’t want to go play in university because there was no opportunity for them in French, so, ah… And I think just in general people have started enjoying it and then it’s really snowballed and now I think, you know, Québec might be the strongest province as far as football is concerned in Canada. So it’s doing really well.
John Meagher, Montréal Gazette
I just wanted to know, I know you’d put down your med school studies to pursue a football career and I want to know where you stood there, if you still have plans to go back to that when you’re retired from football.
And the other question is I want to know, in your position there’s so little room for error and I’m just wondering if you’ve ever, do you know how many missed snaps you’ve actually made in that position since you turned pro?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Well to answer your first question, I’m definitely going to go back and finish off med school. I mean I, ah, when I first took a year to—it was just a one-year leave of absence to go play with the Argos. I just wanted, you know, the plan was one year. It was kind of built like a break from school a little bit, kind of relax a little bit and then live out the, kind of the dream of playing professional football, and then I was ready to go back to school. I was all set. You know, I had broken my leg in Toronto in the playoffs and I was ready to, I was a couple months away from going back to school and then this opportunity came up and then I said I’d give it a year and see what happens and now it’s six years later, but I still, there’s no doubt in my mind I’m going to finish off medical school. It’s going to be my, you know, my main career obviously, because now I’m 30 years old, I’ve been here six years, and you know, I know I won’t play another 50 years, so that’s definitely going to be my plan.
And for your other question, um, I haven’t had really like a bad snap where the, ah, you know, let’s say over the punter’s head or on the ground or, you know, that they couldn’t handle. I’ve had snaps where they’re not—
John Meagher, Montréal Gazette
Perfect?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Perfect, and then you know, you kind of hear about it from the coach a little bit when the punter has the, you know, get it (inaudible) or over, you know, over his, you know, on top of his helmet or whatever. I’ve had—you know, everybody has a couple a year, you know, one or two a year, which is normal, but as far as seeing one over the head, you know, knock on wood but it’s never happened and it shouldn’t happen. It really shouldn’t happen.
John Meagher, Montréal Gazette
Okay. Does that consistency explain your longevity? I’m assuming in that position, ah, if you are able to be that consistent you can last a long time at that position?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah. I mean definitely the consistency is a big part. I mean you have to have the, you know, when they break snappers and it’s about, you know, how fast you get it back and how accurate you can get it back, and the things is not, you know, do it eight times out of ten, you should do it ten times out of ten, where (inaudible) a game the coach is not even concerned with what a snap’s going to be and a field goal’s, ah, a field goal is big thing. You know, you want to have, when the holder catches the ball he wants to have the laces facing out so the kicker doesn’t kick him, and there was, you know, they pay kickers a lot of money these days so the last thing they need is someone to go mess it up and have a miscarriage.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
J.P., Dan Ralph again. A couple things. First of all, what’s your contractual status at Seattle?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
I have, ah, I signed a four-year contract and I’m in the third year right now.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
And that’ll put you at 31. I mean will your next deal be your last deal do you think?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
I don’t know. It’s hard. I mean who knows what’s going to happen? It’s hard to predict. And I’m still, I mean 30, I’m still kind of young. I mean I’m healthy, I’m feeling great, and…
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
Well I guess players are playing longer now anyway, aren’t they?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah, every position players play longer and especially in my position. I mean there’s a bunch of guys in, you know, their mid-30s that are doing fine and, you know, going strong, so, ah…
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
Who knows.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah, who knows? We’ll see.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
The one thing I wanted to ask you though, looking at the NFC in general, I think people will concede that Philadelphia is probably the class of the division, but after that there seems to be a bunch of teams, yours included, that seem to be in that 1A category. Do you see it that way too?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah. I mean we’re, ah, there’s a lot of good teams, and like I said last year, um, we were predicted by many people to be the Super Bowl pick, you know, the fancy Super Bowl pick and we didn’t have that good a year. We kind of started off strong then tailed off, so… You know, right now people are talking a lot about different teams and, ah, but honestly to me it’s pretty much speculation right now. You can’t tell until you start playing and there’s injuries come into that and, ah, it’s just on paper right now, so…
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
Yeah. But I mean given what happened last year, I guess you don’t mind not being the sexy Super Bowl pick this year then.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
No. I mean that’s the funny thing. I mean we’ve made improvements over last year— —and then we’re not even, ah…so it’s kind of, ah, some guy starts saying it and everybody jumps on the bandwagon and it doesn’t mean that much really.
John Meagher, Montréal Gazette
J.P., John Meagher again. Just wondering, ah, someday if your NFL career came to an end, would you ever entertain the thought of playing even one year for the Alouettes in Montréal because this is your home town?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Well at first I did. You know, at first I felt like I wasn’t doing that much during the game. I thought it was difficult to go—I was used to just being tired the whole game, you know, just always sweating and just being, you know, short of breath and just you don’t even notice, you just keep going, and the first year I got here was, ah, it took me a lot to get—usually I stay warm and kind of, you know, the routine. It took me like the whole first year to kind of get used to that. And then once I get, now I’ve got my routine done, I’m totally fine with it. I know that’s what I’m here for. That’s my job, that’s why I’m here, and I’ve got absolutely no problem with it.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
What’s a typical routine for you? Like I mean a practice? I mean everybody knows the offence goes through its things and the defence goes through its things, I mean you, your job and the kicker, I imagine you guys go off and do your thing.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Well yeah. I mean we’ve got a special teams practice with all the special teams guys, everybody’s in there and then when that’s over I always go to the, ah, you know, the tackling block, you know, like those drills with the linebackers, and you know, a lot of times I’m going to do the (inaudible) with the offence, the starting offence practices, I’ll do the (inaudible) linebacker, do what the other team does, and that’s about it.
Dan Ralph, Canadian Press
Okay. And then do the special team stuff, over and above.
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Exactly. Special teams, we always have a 40 minute special teams practice before, which is about to start in 20 minutes, but we’ve got that special teams practice and that’s when we do work on our punt and our kick-off and all that stuff.
John Meagher, Montreal Gazette
How often do you talk to your brother?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
You know, I used to talk to him every day, but he’s out in German right now playing hockey, so I talk to him about once a week. It’s a little more, ah, he’s got that nine hour time difference, so it’s a bit difficult to get in touch with each other, but… No, he’s doing great. He’s really, he’s enjoying the city over there and the hockey is good and it’s a good thing for him. He’s happy with his decision to go over there.
John Meagher, Montreal Gazette
Are you and Kashama friends in Seattle? I mean do you guys hang out at all?
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah. I mean he just got in, ah, I think it was not even a week ago, and he speaks French, so that freaks out the other guys who don’t speak French, but I’m disappointed because we were, ah, I think five Canadians at one point here, and we had Kerry Carter, Jerome Pathon and Jesse Lumsden, they all got released, and now Alain came in last week so we’re back up to two but I really thought there’d be at least three guys here, but there’s always some surprises.
John Meagher, Montreal Gazette
Well you can speak French in the huddle and…
J.P. Darche, Seattle Seahawks
Yeah, it’s beautiful. Yeah, the guys—the first day he came we’re talking and some guys are walking by like what the heck are you guys talking about?
