Television coverage of football games does a pretty good job of showing the the play of running backs, linemen, and (sometimes) linebackers. It does a terrible job showing what’s going on in the passing game.
Every now and then, though, they’ll show a replay from a camera positioned (presumably) atop the stands, with a wide enough view to show all 22 players on the field. It’s common knowledge that coaches primarily use this camera angle when preparing for games, for obvious reasons.
Does anyone know where an ordinary schmoe like me might find game film from this camera? (A cursory Google search turned up nothing.) It’d be nice to know what the Giants’ safeties are doing, once in a while. Thanks in advance.
For serious fans/students of the game, seeing endless shots of the coaches, cheerleaders, closeups of the QB’s eyes, etc. is worthless. I want a single camera, top-down, fullfield view for the entire game. I’d pay $100 / year for a subscription to college football game films.
I’ve been mulling over filing a FOIA request for them from my favorite public university…any idea whether that would work?
NFL Films is probably the only reliable source for this kind of thing, since I’m pretty certain there isn’t a black market of NFL scouting directors peddling old game film. Nobody else is licensed to sell actual game tape, so it’d have to come from their vault. I finally got their website to work – it’s some shockwave garbage – and they say that “it is impossible to obtain a copy of an entire NFL game” from any source. There’s your answer, I guess; you can get highlights packages and great games, but they ain’t selling most of what you want.
Also, I’m pretty sure the Freedom of Information Act isn’t applicable to college game film.
Since all coaches of the NFL teams obviously have access to this stuff, you could try (good luck!) going through channels. Contact either the Giants or the league’s PR department and ask. I can’t imagine you’d get very far, though. Basically, you need to get Coach Coughlin on the horn and ask him to send you copies of his films during the offseason when he’s not busy. Again, good luck.
Well, for future games might I suggest a widescreen HDTV? It’s not exactly what you were asking for, but it sure looks a lot better (and gives much more detail about what’s going on downfield) than SDTV.
NOTE: AFAIK, all NFL games (except possibly preseason games) are broadcast in widescreen HDTV. ABC and CBS broadcast in 1080i and Fox broadcasts in 720p.
Not yet they aren’t. Less than half are given the full HD treatment. Possibly only the national games. My buddy with the HDTV who is a Jets fan was frustrated this season at how few of the Jets games were broadcast in high def, and they are in the biggest market in the country. Sure, they’re the second fiddle in the market, but still.
The University of Texas does offer this (it’s $350, though). I know in the past, the videos were the footage from the coaches’ cam, but, now that every game is on TV, I don’t know if they use the TV footage instead. I do know they cut out everything except the plays, so you don’t have to watch crowd shots and 20 second closeups on the QB waiting for the play to be signalled in.
I don’t know where you’d find it, but I do know all games are filmed in this way. From what I’ve read, coaches agree that the “all-22” angle is the only one that’s really useful in seeing how a play really happens and develops.