WATFORD, England (AP) — Jacob Bobenmoyer had tossed his passport in a bathroom drawer at some point, figuring he’s not leaving the country anytime soon.
Then the Jacksonville Jaguars reached out. They needed a long snapper — in London.
"They called me and I was like ‘man I hope it’s still there,’” Bobenmoyer said.
It was.
Jacksonville signed Bobenmoyer to its practice squad after long snapper Ross Matiscik injured his shoulder in last Sunday’s 19-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Jags remained in town for Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans at Wembley Stadium.
Bobenmoyer explained after practice Thursday the sequence of events leading to his unlikely trip to London.
He was on a camping trip with his two young children in Colorado — where they live — when his agent texted him about being contacted by the Jags. The team had reached out during the game.
So, Bobenmoyer cut short the camping trip and drove home in case he’d need to leave that night, “and that’s exactly what happened.” He said he was “changing diapers and whatnot when the Jaguars called me and told me that they’re flying me out.”
With his wife out of town, Bobenmoyer arranged childcare — they also have several dogs — with his mother-in-law and drove to Denver for an overnight flight to London. He arrived midday Monday.
“Yeah, it was a whirlwind,” he said.
Matiscik has not practiced this week because of the injury. The Jags would need to elevate Bobenmoyer off the practice squad for him to play Sunday.
The 29-year-old Bobenmoyer played the past three seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders and before that spent three years with the Denver Broncos. He played linebacker and long snapper at Northern Colorado.
“I just train and work out exactly how I would exactly how I would if I was with a team," he said. "It paid off.”
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Jacksonville Jaguars place kicker Cam Little (39) walks across the field during NFL football practice in Hertfordshire, England, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Jacksonville Jaguars' long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer (55) works out during NFL football practice in Hertfordshire, England, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Jacksonville Jaguars' long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer (55) works out during NFL football practice in Hertfordshire, England, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Kyle Cotner knew nothing about fall foliage when he trolled his White House colleagues in 2007, telling them he was an expert despite having grown up in Florida.
When autumn rolled around, he kept up the bit, sending out weekly newsletters with foliage statistics and information to a handful of co-workers. Today, he has mastered complex mapping systems, calls himself “Leaf Daddy” and owns The Foliage Report, a website that tracks fall color from coast to coast.
Thus, he was speaking with actual authority last week when he said 2026 has been a spectacular year for foliage in New England.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years, and this is the best I’ve seen of New England in that time,” he said. “2020 was a very good year, but this one seems elite to me.”
New England had adequate rain through the spring and summer, plus warm days and cool nights heading into fall, but that wasn’t the case elsewhere, he said.
This story will be updated throughout the day to add new photos. See a curated photo gallery here. The Associated Press is carrying live views of foliage in Vermont, Michigan, Colorado and Washington today.
Extreme drought conditions stressed trees in Colorado, for example, leading to a quick and lackluster foliage season. Aspens in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho aren’t as golden this year, he said. But Utah is a bright spot.
“They got enough rainfall in that area,” he said. “You basically want an average amount of precipitation to really bring out the most majestic and colorful leaves.”
Fall foliage is all about trees preparing for winter, according to experts at the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension.
Leaves exist to provide food for the tree. They absorb sunlight through a green pigment called chlorophyll, and that energy is used to convert water and carbon dioxide from the air into glucose, a type of sugar. As days shorten, the tree stops making food, allowing orange and yellow pigments that have been there all along to be unmasked. When sunny days are followed by cold nights, sugars get trapped in leaves, producing red pigments.
Eventually, the layer of cells between a twig and a leaf weakens, allowing leaves to be blown down during wind and rain. The timing varies widely by location. According to Cotner’s research, foliage season starts in Alaska in mid-August and ends in Florida in late December. Hawaii is the only U.S. state without fall foliage, he said.
For Kirk Giglio, leaf peeping provides an escape from his day job as a nurse in a cardiac and stroke unit of a Connecticut hospital. A photographer who frequently chases storms as well, he is used to studying maps and forecasts, and was hopeful by early September that this would be a good year. A recent trip to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with his fiancee confirmed it.
“I was just really kind of blown away,” he said, describing sunrise hikes and fog lifting to reveal vibrant colors in New Hampshire’s Crawford Notch and elsewhere. Though some spots were packed with tourists, he still found plenty of secluded and stunning scenery.
“The more I travel, the more I realize how much we take for granted up here,” he said. “In a world that is so modern and gray with these corporate, soulless colors that we see everywhere, the trees are one of the last things that make color anymore, so it’s nice to just observe, especially in a good year like this.”
A few trees hold onto their fall foliage, the Talkeetna Mountains visible in the background, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, near Chickaloon, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Water flows down the Big Poe Creek on an autumn day in Woodward, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Autumn leaves are seen along the Siglerville Millheim Pike near Milroy, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
People look at fall foliage from Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
White-barked aspen trees stand among yellow and orange fall foliage on the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Ariz., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Cheyanne Mumphrey)
A couple walks through colorful foliage after walking across a covered bridge spanning the Contoocook River, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Henniker, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Fresh fallen hardwood leaves cover the forest floor in Ghent, N. Y., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Water flows down the Big Poe Creek on an autumn day in Woodward, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Water flows down the Contoocook River passing the colorful foliage of trees towards a covered bridge, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, in Henniker, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Colorful foliage adds to the view overlooking the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains at Olana, the former home of celebrated painter Frederic Church, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Hudson, N.Y. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
