NFL wireless plan? Try witless plan.
29 March 2008 by Robert SchlesingerSo the NFL owners are going to vote on a proposal that would place radio receivers in the helmets of two defensive players.
Defensive players should absolutely have radio receivers (like the quarterback has on offense). And this inane proposal should be voted down.
Why only two radios? I’ve been asking this since last fall and I haven’t gotten a satisfactory explanation. Having only one radio-equipped player on offense makes — well it doesn’t actually make particular sense. Why only the quarterback? Can the left guard not be trusted to receive the play directly? But at least logistically it makes sense on offense: the quarterback is the one player on the field at all times.
On defense … there’s no logical or practical reason to limit it either to one or two players. Who gets the headset? According to the proposed rule, only one player on the field could have the radio in their helmet at one time and no more than two on the team. Have fun figuring out which ones to give the magic helmets. And refs: Have fun keeping track of it all.
Why limit the number of radio receivers? Just put receivers in all the helmets and be done with it. There’s no reason not to.
March 29th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Except that you could communicate things seen from the booth or sidelines to all the players on the field.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:41 am
So? Presumably they’ll shut off the radios during the actual plays, as they (presumably) do now with QBs.
March 30th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
With 10 seconds to go they do, but still I think there’s something to having one player bring the play in and translate it to the team. Call me old-fashioned.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
You’re old-fashioned.
And wrong. The NFL is — typically — being dumb here.
March 30th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I dunno - MLB has been dumb, NBA dumb, NHL idiotic. But the NFL has been pretty smart for the past 15-20 years.
March 30th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
No Fun League.
March 30th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
If the worst thing you can hang on them is banning end-zone celebrations (which I wish they didn’t), then isn’t that an indication that they haven’t been very dumb in running their league?
March 31st, 2008 at 8:39 am
Ridiculous. QBs are already giant pussies and should have never gotten earpieces and mics. That being said is anyone surprised that league brass [who prefer an offensive explosion of a 50-48 game] would give the offense as many advantages as they can?
Defense doesn’t deserve them, offense doesn’t deserve them.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I tend to agree with staiano - I’d prefer to have no technology in the helmets. We’ve had it for QBs for so long that it’s accepted, but I like hand signals better. Old school!
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Well, it passed. So now the Pats can start cheating by intercepting the D-signals using short-wave radio!
Video is so passe….