Don't look for Paxton to be re-creating his now-famous histrionics this weekend. New England's reliable long snapper is out for the playoffs with a serious knee injury that required surgery (hint: the initials for this malady are ACL), and has trouble walking right now, never mind flopping himself on his back for some adolescent winter fun.
"It's been tough," conceded Paxton, reached at his home on Wednesday. "It's not all that fun watching your teammates on TV running around and cheering and celebrating while you're just sitting there.
"It's kind of hard to feel part of the team, even though I won a Super Bowl with those guys."
Paxton signed with New England as a rookie free agent in April 2000. He was an offensive lineman at Sacramento State, but knew his future with the Patriots would be exclusively as a long snapper.
He happily toiled anonymously alongside his more celebrated teammates until the Snow Game and his spontaneous choice of celebration. It was spontaneous, wasn't it, Lonie?
"Well . . . " Paxton said. "Not exactly."
The truth shall now be told. The day of that now legendary Oakland victory, Paxton entertained various family members visiting from the West Coast. His guests tossed footballs in the snow and enjoyed a few cocktails while Paxton anxiously awaited the biggest game of his career.
"I was feeling pretty antsy," he said. "My family is out back having a good ol' time in the snow, but I've got the game on my mind. They were saying, `This is going to be wild. You are going to whupp them in this weather.'
"Then somebody said, `Hey Lonie, if you guys win, you should do something crazy.' I'm thinking to myself, `I'm the long snapper, not the quarterback. What chance am I going to have to do anything?' "
As the weather worsened toward game time, Paxton and his teammates marveled at the wonders of the New England weather.
"[Former Patriots defensive lineman] Dave Nugent looked at me and said, `If we win this game, let's do snow angels in the end zone,' " Paxton said. "So when Adam [Vinatieri] kicked the winning field goal, and I started doing my thing, but Nugent never showed up. He was jumping on Adam at midfield."
