Tom Rock: Film out, JetPod in

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjets054962718nov05,0,7715041.story?coll=ny-jets-print

Film out, JetPod in

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

November 5, 2006

It's charming, in a way, that they still call it "film." And perhaps the mental image - players and coaches in a darkened room with the reel-to-reel projector flickering snaps on a yanked-down screen - exists with the nomenclature, both antiquated and inaccurate but an important part of football lore.

These days, when a football player wants to dissect an opponent's tendencies or techniques, he goes past the clackity old projectors, beyond even the VHS tapes, and straight to digital information. Some are even making the DVDs - which have just recently found a home with NFL teams - a thing of the past. MP3 players, Play Station Portables, and a variety of gadgets and gizmos that increase capacity along with portability are now the hand-held film rooms for professional players. And on some teams - such as the Jets - the quest to deliver the information in a user-friendly package is almost as important as the message itself.

"Steve Scarnecchia is the head of our video department, and one of the reasons that I hired him . . . is that he's another guy that's always trying to stay ahead of the curve," Jets coach Eric Mangini said. "He does a great job with constantly researching what's the latest technology, whether it's the latest technology in how to film practice or the latest technology in how to cut up practice or games, or how to get the information to the players. He's constantly bringing ideas that we incorporate to help the players."

Mangini's open-mindedness toward the use of these e-tools might come from his demographic. At 35, he's one of the first of the video-game generation to rise to NFL head coach. Mangini doesn't dismiss a player studying on a machine designed to play music or video games the way one could imagine Vince Lombardi scowling over the same contraption. Perhaps only a coach who grew up playing Donkey Kong on a Nintendo or dropping quarters into a PacMan machine could truly appreciate the new role of these video consoles.

"I am definitely very open to anything with technology," Mangini said. "I think there is so much of that in terms of video games and things that players grow up with and different ways that you can get them the information. The more ways that you can get it to hit their brains, the better off we all are."

Wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery may have been one of the first to dabble with portable preparation. He received an MP3 player with a video screen for Christmas last year, and it wasn't long before he stopped downloading frivolous things like music and asked the Jets to drop some of the game film on his pocket-sized prize.

After his seven-reception performance against the Lions two weeks ago, Cotchery gave credit to his tech.

"This morning I wake up, brush my teeth, got my MP3 player," he said. "I'm just constantly watching all the way up here, figuring out ways the defensive backs are playing. Every week, I take my MP3 and tell them to put me some film on there."

Compared to the Play Station Portable (or PSP for those in the lingo), Cotchery's MP3 player might as well be Edison's phonograph. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma started using his PSP to dissect film about a month ago and already is a staunch convert.

"You can take it with you wherever you go," he said. "You can hook it up to the TV and watch it at home if you want to. It's very convenient, and it saves a lot of the headaches of finding DVDs."

Vilma said the Jets can pack footage from four complete games plus all of the "cut-ups" or edited illustrations of that week's opposing team on a single PSP memory card, which is about one square inch in size. While Vilma does not watch film on the day of the game the way Cotchery does - "but I could if I wanted to," he maintains - he manages to take advantage of the PSP's versatility for some extra cramming.

"You can take your PSP, sit there and relax, watch it wherever," Vilma said. "You can watch it laying in bed when you're about to go to sleep."

Vilma and safety Kerry Rhodes often put in their watching work together, alternating between their homes. With Vilma's PSP, it's as easy as plugging in some wires to have the image projected on a full-sized TV at either residence.

"I know that now there's more technology, so you can do a lot more things and there are a lot more advanced ways to study," Rhodes said. "Some guys may be set in their ways from when they did it back then, but I think everybody's pretty flexible with it and likes the new technology."

Well, almost everybody. Rookie tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and rookie quarterback/receiver Brad Smith both said they prefer the "old-fashioned" DVDs, pushing their techno-study only as far as the nearest laptop computer. Ferguson said he would try a PSP if he had one. "It's a wealth of knowledge," he said of the availability of video images for opposing teams. "There's no real limits to what you can get."

Then there is linebacker Matt Chatham, who, if he had his way, probably would go back to those dark rooms and the clicking reel-to-reel for his analysis. He is provided DVDs just like all Jets players, but he rarely uses them outside the Jets' complex.

"I probably log more hours in the building than most guys because I hate doing the DVDs," said Chatham, an example that the tool is only as effective as the hands in which it is held. "The reason I personally get a lot done is because there's nothing here but football. If I go home, I'm watching film of the Patriots with the TV going and the music and the wife and the dog and all that stuff. Too many distractions."

They'll never make a gadget to eliminate that.

[faba]

Having a podcast- what a great idea-right Max.