by: Chris Sullivan
One little bee in my bonnet that's been buzzing all day originated in an article Mike Sando wrote this morning (see it here). For those not aware, the NFL added a rule this year that one player on defense can wear a radio earpiece in their helmet, just like the Quarterback does for the offense. In general, it appears the elected player tends to be the middle linebacker or the best linebacker on the field. Naturally, for us the designated player is Lofa Tatupu. How does Lofa feel about it, though?
Mike Sando: As an instinctive football player who knows how to play football, who doesn't play like a robot, are you ever going to like the thing in your ear?Well, at least he's honest! But hey, 'so what?,' right? Well, the problem is that Lofa appears to be taken a moral stand against it. He believes that it is "cheating," ("Sando: It's a legal advantage. It's not technically cheating. Lofa: It is cheating"). So, what has happened for the Seahawks is that the chosen leader and play relayer on defense has elected to have minimal intrusion from the coaching staff, which is fine--he is clearly an instinctual player, and a damned good one at that.Lofa Tatupu: I hate it.
My hypothesis, however, is that having Lofa wear the ear piece is affecting our defense negatively. Now, I don't think that explains the losses and the atrocious point totals we're allowing, but I don't think it is helping either. The bottom line is, the Coaching staff has one defensive player's ear. Lofa makes it sound like D-Coordinators often call out what the other team appears to be calling in addition to their defensive play call, and if they see something from the booth or the sidelines that the players might miss they can then yell it into their Captain's ear.
That's 'legal.'
It appears--though I imagine the DC's intrusions fall into something of a grey area--that we can buzz into that players ear whenever it appears necessary. I do not fault Lofa for feeling iffy about using the new tool in that manner, but I fault our coaching staff both for forcing him to wear it and not allowing for its full implementation. It seems strange to have Lofa wearing it in the first place. The secondary is what needs help now anyway, so why not give it to Deon Grant?
Like I said, this is just something that has bothered me since I read that this morning, especially after seeing how unresponsive our D was to personnel changes and such today. (Of course, I guess it didn't matter who was in, since they moved the ball at will against our D . . .)
What do you guys think? END
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