Defence now get helmet speakers

[joelamosobadiah]

I don't think this is going to have an impact from the fan perspective. Coach involvement in defensive play-calling and pre-snap reads already exists, this will just make it more efficient. The MLB (or whoever the defensive QB is) will still bear the responsibility of adjusting at the line. I do not think you'll see a lot of micromanaging of the defense from the DC.

I agree that the fans won't see a huge difference or anything, but I could see a difference being in communication being possible from the booth directly to the field after seeing how the offense is lined up.

Something interesting about who would wear the helmet that I saw on the Cowboys site was Wade Phillips said that Brady James is the playcaller, but he probably wouldn't be wearing the headset since he isn't a three-down player. He plays two downs for the most part. He said that most likely it would be DeMarcus Ware, possibly Zach Thomas being in the mix or one of the DB's. Just found it interesting that Bradie James might not wear the eadset because he rarely plays three downs.

[onnestabe]

This is kind of a funny rule change. I understand the basic premise - offense gets it, so the defense gets it, too - but getting past that, there are a lot of little logistical things to work out.

For instance, the offense's radio is turned off at a certain point before each play (maybe once they break huddle or once they are under center, I'm not sure). When will the defense's radio be turned off? Is it when the offense's radio is turned off? If so, then the offense has control over when the radios get turned off, and that doesn't sound like it will help the defense very much. All they have to do is go no huddle and do all their checks from the line, and the defense has to go back to hand signals. If it stays on based on the playclock, then that means that the coach is in their ear making reads for them on every play, which isn't fair to the offense.

Also, defenses generally don't huddle up these days, they just all look at the coach and get the signal, then they shout out or signal to each other to make defensive adjustments. Now if only one guy gets a radio they have to huddle up around that guy or they can shout out and signal the calls to each other, so instead of the coach signalling in the calls, the middle linebacker will be doing the signals, and there's no rule against filming the middle linebacker while he's on the field. So the radio could potentially make it easier to steal defensive signals because every team is going to have a tape of them every week.

Also, what happens if the radio gets broken? That wasn't much of a risk with the offense's radios because QBs don't get hit that much (unless you're David Carr or play for Oakland), and there's a big penalty for hitting their helmet. All defensive players are involved in major collisions throughout the game, so the chances for that radio to get broken is pretty high. If it stops working, does the offense lose the ability to use theirs? If so, then I think if I'm a defensive player with a radio, I want to break it every single game. Not having the radio is a much bigger hindrance to the offense than it is to the defense, considering offenses haven't used hand signals for years, and probably don't even have any set up to use.

Just some thoughts I had on the subject... I hope the league officials have thought all this stuff out. It just seems like an "if it ain't broke" type of situation, to me.

[JasonSeahorn]

Radios are turned off by a timer, once there is 10 or 15 seconds left on the playclock (I don't know exact number), the radios automatically shut off, so the defensive radios should do the same.

Coaches on the sidelines could just point out shifts in the offense or a receiver that hasn't been accounted for, so the MLB can just tell the DBS "make sure one of you watches him".

I don't know how tough the radios in the helmet are. I think this is an interesting addition, and for better or worse, represents progress in the NFL.