NFL Passes Rule for Defensive Communication Devices
In the wake of the fallout from the so-called "Spygate" scandal, the NFL competition committee today voted to approve the "coach-to-defense" signal calling system that league officials hope will eliminate the possibility of sideline signals being stolen by opposing teams, something for which the Pats were heavily penalized this past season. The resolution will allow for communication devices to be placed in 2 helmets with one of those helmets being allowed on the field of play. While this move certainly eliminates the possibility of videotaping the hand and other signals previously used to call in defensive packages, it begs the question of what other breeches could be made from a more technological standpoint. I'm no expert in communicative devices in headset form (or any other field for that matter, aside from being 23 and unemployed, perhaps), but doesn't it stand to reason that a team could somehow intercept their opponents' chatter over the airwaves? I do think it's an improvement and it's nice that the offense and defense are now on equal footing in terms of how the coaches communicate with their respective personnel, but it still seems to be a long way from perfect and I doubt this issue will ever be fully resolved. I believe it was Thomas Hobbes who, along with claiming that man is inherently evil, stated that coaches will always look for loopholes in the rules and professional football teams will wrongly be made to forfeit a first round draft pick as punishment for the infractions of their leaders... no, I'm not bitter about losing that 31st overall pick, not at all...




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