Welcome back and thanks, as always, for the huge response in this strange offseason. I am going to take another break over the next two weeks and return July 5.
Today’s question comes from Dave Taylor in California:
Q: What are the parameters of headset communication between the quarterback and (usually) the offensive coordinator? Can the offensive coordinator talk to the quarterback while a play is being run, or is there a league-mandated cutoff point?
A: Dave, you touch on one of the real hot-button issues in the league.
Few things, other than a game situation, can get an NFL head coach going like an off-the-record discussion about the coach-to-quarterback devices.
The general rules for the use of the devices, which are now used by one player on defense as well, are:
- They are shut off, by game-day personnel, with 15 seconds left on the play clock. So with a full 40-second play clock, the coach gets 25 seconds to communicate.
- Only one coach can communicate to the quarterback, and that coach has to be on the field, in the bench area. If the offensive coordinator is the team’s play-caller and is in the press box, then he relays a play to a designated assistant coach on the field and that assistant coach relays it to the quarterback.
- Up to three quarterbacks can have a receiver and speaker in their helmets. There are no microphones.
- The same rules apply to the designated defensive player with the device in his helmet, with up to two defensive players allowed to have a device in their helmets. Only one defensive player can wear the device on the field, however; the second device with the second player is used in case of injury.There have always been rumblings about the potential for cheating, however, with some road teams having experienced repeated difficulties with the devices at crucial points in games.
That’s a flashpoint, according to the league rules book, because if a team’s entire set of headsets goes out on the sideline during a game, the other team’s headsets are then turned off as well. But that’s not the case with the coach-to-player devices.
So, if one team’s device goes out during the game and the quarterback can’t hear the play, and the rest of the headsets are working, that’s too bad. The other team gets to keep using its coach-to-player device.
There can be extended periods of games in which one team’s coach-to-player devices work and the other team’s do not. Some coaches have told me they’ve heard concessions employees or other stadium personnel who are using walkie-talkies on their headsets during games.
This used to come up more in the older stadiums when the devices first started to be used, but that seems to have improved with the technology. Some coaches also have privately said they believe it’s possible to reprogram the devices so the quarterback could hear past the 15-second cutoff point.
But the company that supplies the devices does make surprise visits to NFL stadiums during the season to make sure things are working properly. They do not visit every stadium every week, however.
With so much riding on wins and losses, there is always more than a little skepticism about whether everybody is following the rules to the letter. But the league has tried to limit the potential for problems.
