Helmet speaker puts QBs on a better wavelength

Ben Roethlisberger and the other young quarterbacks who are making a name for themselves in the NFL today have the benefit of something that didn't exist when I started my career: the helmet speaker. It seems like a small thing, but the helmet speaker really has helped speed up their development.

It's so much easier to call plays now. When I came into the league, plays were relayed from the sideline with hand signals. So in addition to learning all the plays and terminology, a young quarterback also had to learn the hand signals. That was a lot of information to process and then spit out in the huddle.

Now, the quarterback gets the play straight from the coach in both ear holes. It's clean and simple. This is particularly helpful in the no-huddle, a situation in which the quarterback typically makes the calls himself because it's difficult to get signals from the sideline in the middle of a 2-minute drill. With that voice in his ear, he can get the calls and then focus on communicating and running the plays. That's a huge advantage.

Because the speaker stays on until the play clock hits 15 seconds and it takes only a few seconds to relay the play, coaches can share other words of wisdom: "Remember, they like the weak safety blitz in this situation. Alert your wide receiver" Or: "Let's hard count here, but remind everybody not to jump offside." And so on. It's a great way to coach a young guy on the field.

It's possible to go overboard. Before I broadcast the Steelers-Eagles game for FOX a couple of weeks ago, I asked Ken Whisenhunt, Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator, how much the Steelers use the headset to talk to Roethlisberger. He said that beyond the play, they give Ben as little instruction as possible. They don't want to overload him.

I know the feeling. I refused to use the helmet speaker when it was introduced in 1994 because I didn't want anybody talking to me. That was me being stubborn, but I just wanted to play. I finally relented when the playoffs began only because I could tell that opponents were picking up the hand signals. Even so, all I wanted was the play call, nothing more.

I might have felt differently my rookie year, when Dallas went 1-15 and I was taking a lot of hits. At that point, I needed all the help I could get.

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