Football coaches' headsets

[NinjaChick]

It seems that every football coach at every NFL game is always wearing one of those big headsets, with a microphone. Why? Who are they talking to using them, and what are they talking about? I’ve never noticed it in any other sport - what makes it nessecary in football?

[BobT]

Each team has 3-4 coaches that sit upstairs in a booth in the press box. Those coaches talk to the ones on the field and tell them about formations and tendencies that are much easier to spot from that vantage point. It’s very hard to tell what’s going on in a football game from ground level.

The coaches upstairs usually suggest a play call that the head coach or offensive coordinator signs off on and then relays to the quarterback.

In the NFL, there is a speaker in the quarterback’s helmet. The coaches upstairs have a designated period of time to tell the play call to the QB.

[Fear_Itself]

I always wonder why they use those big honkin’ industrial sized microphones that look like they are from 1952, instead a sleek little boom mike like they use on music videos and such.

[Fritz]

@Fear Itself

I always wonder why they use those big honkin’ industrial sized microphones that look like they are from 1952, instead a sleek little boom mike like they use on music videos and such.

Designed to better resist wind noise, perhaps?

[Cerowyn]

@BobT

The coaches upstairs have a designated period of time to tell the play call to the QB.

IIRC, it doesn’t have to be any specific person on the team that talks to the QB, let alone someone in the upstairs booth.

[Fritz]

@Fritz

Designed to better resist wind noise, perhaps?

…or reject high ambient/crowd noise…

[BobT]

@Cerowyn

IIRC, it doesn’t have to be any specific person on the team that talks to the QB, let alone someone in the upstairs booth.

It doesn’t have to be the coach upstairs, but in practice it always is although I think the head coach gets to listen in also.

This appeared in this week’s “Ask Jerry Markbreit” column on the Chicago Tribune’s website.

During an NFL game, who has the ability to communicate with players on the field, and which players are these? Is this communication open at all times? If not, who controls turning it on or off? Is there any concern about the signals being intercepted by someone else? --Charlie McCalla, Bloomington, Ind.

In the NFL, there is a coach to quarterback radio system that can be used on each play for a limited amount of time. There is a coach to quarterback timer in the press box, with a switch that controls this system. When the ball is blown dead on a play, the coach to quarterback timer opens the switch, allowing the coach and the quarterback to communicate. It is shut off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock. I seriously doubt that there is much concern regarding someone intercepting the messages from coach to quarterback as I am sure they are in code.

[CC]

I"ve wondedered about radio intercepts as well. Even if they are “in code” as ex-ref Jerry M. suggests, these codes would basically be play calls, and once another team sees the play and pairs it with the call, they’d be able to recognize it again later in the game, wouldn’t they? So why don’t the high tech guys who work for these teams hack the up-in-the-booth coordinator’s calls and use that info?

[Martin_Hyde]

@CC

I"ve wondedered about radio intercepts as well. Even if they are “in code” as ex-ref Jerry M. suggests, these codes would basically be play calls, and once another team sees the play and pairs it with the call, they’d be able to recognize it again later in the game, wouldn’t they? So why don’t the high tech guys who work for these teams hack the up-in-the-booth coordinator’s calls and use that info?

Well you have the same situation with QBs shouting audibles at the line. I’m not sure what they do so that other teams don’t learn what plays the codes correspond with over the years but obviously it works pretty well, most of the time.

Although at the college level I’ve heard of debacles happening because of signals coming form the sidelines. I can’t remember the schools involved now but two schools that played one another every year had a quarterback transfer from one school to the other. The QB took with him information on all the sideline signals he would receive telling him which play to give to the offense (either in the huddle or on the line.) The team he left never changed their signals for when they eventually played this QB’s new team and said team certainly used it to their advantage in the game.

[Number]

@Fear Itself

I always wonder why they use those big honkin’ industrial sized microphones that look like they are from 1952, instead a sleek little boom mike like they use on music videos and such.

I don’t recall where I heard it, but someone suggested that the sole reason for the large headsets was so that the word “MOTOROLA” could be printed on the mouthpiece in a way that would be easily readable to tv viewers. Does anyone know how much truth there is to this product placement theory?

It seems like an odd advertising strategy. Why would you want to associate your brand with bulky old-fashioned equipment?

[pilot141]

I believe Motorola won the contract for the NFL headsets, and were free to choose their own design.

This also fixes the problem of hacking: Motorola sets up the communication for each team before the game. They run their own checks, decide on frequencies to be used, etc., and the teams show up on Sunday and play. The teams don’t own the headsets and therefore (theoretically) can’t spend time trying to hack into the other team’s comms. It seems to be working well so far.

[jnglmassiv]

We radio fans discuss this type of stuff all the time. Of course the headset radios are encrypted. Its quite cheap and easy to add encryption to already digital media and the temptation to spy would be great.

Here’s a .pdf file that goes into considerable technical depth:
Telex Radiocom

[LionelHutz405]

@Fear Itself

I always wonder why they use those big honkin’ industrial sized microphones that look like they are from 1952, instead a sleek little boom mike like they use on music videos and such.

I’ve seen coaches holding a clipboard up to their mouths, presumably to prevent anyone lip-reading. Not reading the clipboard, just covering their mouth with it. Perhaps the big Honkin’ microphone would do that as well.

[Bearflag70]

Many coaches cover their faces with the play sheet when calling plays to prevent people on the other side from reading their lips.

It would be cool if the mouthpiece on the headset had some kind of button or voice command that controls a sheild that opens up like a fan or a camera lens to block the coach’s mouth when he wants it.

[sheild]

::coach calls play::

[/sheild]

[Bearflag70]

@LionelHutz405

I’ve seen coaches holding a clipboard up to their mouths, presumably to prevent anyone lip-reading. Not reading the clipboard, just covering their mouth with it. Perhaps the big Honkin’ microphone would do that as well.

I type too slow

[CC]

@jnglmassiv

We radio fans discuss this type of stuff all the time. Of course the headset radios are encrypted. Its quite cheap and easy to add encryption to already digital media and the temptation to spy would be great.

Here’s a .pdf file that goes into considerable technical depth:
Telex Radiocom

From what I can make of this pdf, both teams use headsets from the same company, but there are 65,000 possible codes they can choose to use to encrypt the transmission from booth to sideline, and thence to the quarterback. So the chances of guessing which code the other guys are using is 65,000 to one, making hacking effectively not possible.

Is that correct?