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In the high and dry days of summer, NFL fans everywhere scratch the itch of football's absence by consuming every training camp video they can get their hands on. Blurry, grainy, too zoomed out or too zoomed in, from awkward angles that make it difficult to discern much of anything, none of that really matters. From late July until the start of the season, everyone's social media feeds are loaded with shaky clips of dig routes, linebacker blitzes, off-tackle veers, and double coverages.
And it's not just fans armed with iPhones. Over the weekend, an entire practice was professionally shot, broadcast on TV, and live-streamed on the team's own website.
For Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, it's all too much.
“It’s weird,” he told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan from the team's camp in Oxnard, Calif. “Not a fan.”
The fear, of course, is letting too much information get out. A huge part of football strategy is about deception, making your opponent think you're about to do one thing and then doing something different once the ball is snapped. And any play shown from the practice field could reveal something the team hopes to execute for real on a Sunday very soon, and an opponent doing its due diligence can theoretically gather plenty of intel in time to change their gameplan accordingly.
It may seem paranoid, but Parker says it's a tactic he's used- to beat the Cowboys- in the past.
"I don’t know if people realize this," Parker admitted. "I was following some of our [Cowboys] media members and stuff even before I got here because when I was in Green Bay and Denver and Philadelphia, I’ve played Dallas in all three spots, us kind of trying to look for things.”
Searching for such an advantage mainly helps early in the season, Parker said, when coaching staffs are still trying to learn the new wrinkles their opponents may have installed over the offseason.
“Once you get past Game 3 or 4, everything is on tape,” Parker explained. “When you’re in Week 1 or 2, you’re looking for things."
Wanting to keep his defensive plans under wraps for as long as possible led to some confusion at camp over the weekend. At one point, the Cowboys media was actually banned from shooting video during the team portions of practice. There were reportedly even plans to put signs in the stands prohibiting fans from taking videos with their personal phones.
Parker was supposedly behind the effort, which ultimately proved to be short-lived.
“You know me, I think at the end of the day, I don’t worry about that stuff too much,” Schottenheimer told reporters on Saturday. “I mean, we all have each others' playbooks. We all know what we run. We have videos going back decades that we can pull up. It’s not like they’re showing it from a game standpoint; the camera’s on, it’s moving. Are there things you can get? Yeah. But we get the same thing. So that doesn’t bother me.”
Of course, all-access comes part and parcel with the Cowboys under master-showman owner Jerry Jones, even if it irks some coaches. Mike McCarthy famously took numbers off his players' jerseys before a live-to-streaming practice several years ago, and the team has previously asked Oxnard residents whose homes overlook the camp practice field not to shoot video of the proceedings.
But banning cell phones at open practices is almost certainly a bridge too far, especially when autograph/selfie sessions with players is one of the biggest draws for the Cowboys' rabid fanbase. And holding credentialed media members to a video blackout on the sidelines while the general population goes live from the bleachers would raise hackles.
"Look, we like eyes on us with the Cowboys," Schottenheimer said. "It’s a good thing. We’re proud of our brand, and it doesn’t bother me.”
Still, NFL teams implement different rules about practice footage. When the Cowboys visit the Rams at their facility for a joint session on Tuesday, the media will be limited to recording individual drills and stretching only.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys try to ban videos at practice; Christian Parker 'not a fan' of broadcasting intel
Continue reading...
And it's not just fans armed with iPhones. Over the weekend, an entire practice was professionally shot, broadcast on TV, and live-streamed on the team's own website.
For Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker, it's all too much.
“It’s weird,” he told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan from the team's camp in Oxnard, Calif. “Not a fan.”
The fear, of course, is letting too much information get out. A huge part of football strategy is about deception, making your opponent think you're about to do one thing and then doing something different once the ball is snapped. And any play shown from the practice field could reveal something the team hopes to execute for real on a Sunday very soon, and an opponent doing its due diligence can theoretically gather plenty of intel in time to change their gameplan accordingly.
It may seem paranoid, but Parker says it's a tactic he's used- to beat the Cowboys- in the past.
"I don’t know if people realize this," Parker admitted. "I was following some of our [Cowboys] media members and stuff even before I got here because when I was in Green Bay and Denver and Philadelphia, I’ve played Dallas in all three spots, us kind of trying to look for things.”
Searching for such an advantage mainly helps early in the season, Parker said, when coaching staffs are still trying to learn the new wrinkles their opponents may have installed over the offseason.
“Once you get past Game 3 or 4, everything is on tape,” Parker explained. “When you’re in Week 1 or 2, you’re looking for things."
Wanting to keep his defensive plans under wraps for as long as possible led to some confusion at camp over the weekend. At one point, the Cowboys media was actually banned from shooting video during the team portions of practice. There were reportedly even plans to put signs in the stands prohibiting fans from taking videos with their personal phones.
Parker was supposedly behind the effort, which ultimately proved to be short-lived.
“You know me, I think at the end of the day, I don’t worry about that stuff too much,” Schottenheimer told reporters on Saturday. “I mean, we all have each others' playbooks. We all know what we run. We have videos going back decades that we can pull up. It’s not like they’re showing it from a game standpoint; the camera’s on, it’s moving. Are there things you can get? Yeah. But we get the same thing. So that doesn’t bother me.”
Of course, all-access comes part and parcel with the Cowboys under master-showman owner Jerry Jones, even if it irks some coaches. Mike McCarthy famously took numbers off his players' jerseys before a live-to-streaming practice several years ago, and the team has previously asked Oxnard residents whose homes overlook the camp practice field not to shoot video of the proceedings.
But banning cell phones at open practices is almost certainly a bridge too far, especially when autograph/selfie sessions with players is one of the biggest draws for the Cowboys' rabid fanbase. And holding credentialed media members to a video blackout on the sidelines while the general population goes live from the bleachers would raise hackles.
"Look, we like eyes on us with the Cowboys," Schottenheimer said. "It’s a good thing. We’re proud of our brand, and it doesn’t bother me.”
Still, NFL teams implement different rules about practice footage. When the Cowboys visit the Rams at their facility for a joint session on Tuesday, the media will be limited to recording individual drills and stretching only.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys try to ban videos at practice; Christian Parker 'not a fan' of broadcasting intel
Continue reading...
