DENVER– Whether Pete Carroll wants it as a spade for Russell Wilson or a bouquet for Geno Smith, the Seattle Seahawks coach has made calling wristbands a hot topic in the NFL during a topsy-turvy season that has shaken up the longtime quarterback order.
Carroll was talking about the Seahawks’ surprising success in 2022 after moving on from Wilson when he mentioned Smith’s willingness to wear a wristband to make Seattle’s play easier.
“If you notice, Geno doesn’t have a wristband anymore, and that’s a big help,” Carroll told Seattle Sports at 7:10 earlier this month. “It made it easier, it made it faster. And that’s also part of the problem. We’ve never done this before. There was resistance to it. So we didn’t do it before.”
Wilson countered with his own subtle dig, recalling that he “won a lot of matches there without one on his wrist. And I didn’t know that winning or losing mattered whether you wore the bracelet or not.”
Coincidentally, Wilson first wore a wristband with the Broncos in a win over the Jaguars in London two days before Carroll’s comments, and he has used it since then in games and practices as the Broncos try to revive a sputtering attack.
He even wore it on the podium on Wednesday.
“Yeah, I guess I’m wearing that bracelet here,” Wilson said with a chuckle.
Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill talks with Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson after an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tennessee Titans won 17-10. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)
On any given weekend, about two-thirds of NFL quarterbacks wear wristbands. Tom Brady used one his entire career. But some QBs and coaches prefer memorization skills for their more complex plays.
The bands that cinch the quarterback’s non-throwing wrist and forearm contain dozens of plays with corresponding numbers or codes. They are often as much of an advantage to the caller as to the QB, because he can simply call a single number rather than the entire sequence of play with all its protections, checks and other nuances.
“As a game designer, sometimes you want to get a little creative and these things can get a little wordy,” Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett said.
Calling a number and not the entire play sequence saves a few ticks before the quarterback’s earpiece goes off with 15 seconds left on the play clock. The QB can then relay the play and break up the huddle more quickly, positioning himself at the line of scrimmage with a few extra seconds to monitor the defense to make necessary adjustments.
Hackett said the wristbands are especially useful on the road and are especially useful during increasingly complex play calls.
“It’s just the way offenses have progressed,” Hackett said. “…we are becoming more and more elaborate in our game designs.”
Not all plays listed on the coaches’ call sheets are listed on the quarterbacks’ wristbands. They are often limited to complex calls or red zone plays set up later in the week, meaning players have had less time to practice.
However, bracelets are not suitable for everyone.
Some QBs, like the Titans’ Ryan Tannehill, have tried them but don’t wear them all the time like Brady does.
“Last year when we went to Seattle, I wore one” because of the noise at Lumen Field, Tannehill said. “Not too many times. I like being able to hear the call and visualize it in my head as it’s coming. It just helps me get a sense of what’s going on. When I hear it and have to build the picture of the play in my head, it helps me communicate with my guys rather than reading a line on a wristband.”
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins usually doesn’t wear a wristband, and that has something to do with Rams coach Sean McVay, who was Cousins’ offensive coordinator in Washington from 2014-16.
Cousins remembers telling McVay, “These pieces are long and I could use a bracelet. »
Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson (3) reacts on the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Denver, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
“Sean would say, ‘I don’t look at the call sheet to call the play to see what the bracelet number is. I just call the play from my head,'” Cousins said. “So he said, ‘We can’t do that because I’d have to go get the part and then give you the number.’ I learned with Sean that I’m just going to have to memorize these pieces and I don’t have the luxury of a bracelet.
“There are so many different ways to do it and I think there are positives and negatives to all of them,” Cousins said. “There are times when I like to have a lot of words because it helps describe the picture better, but there are other times when you call two or three plays and it can be a lot. With a move, a change, an alert and you have the game clock, so there’s a lot going on.”
Cousins said he learned a trick from backup Nick Mullens as he digested the Vikings’ new offense this summer.
“I was really struggling in late August and early September to really get to a place where I could cough up the plays with total ownership,” Cousins said. He remembers Mullens telling him, “I just record the tricky plays on my phone and instead of listening to music or the radio on the way to and from work, I just listen to the play calls.” »
“I started doing that and my practices are a little more boring,” Cousins said, “but I find myself coming home to the garage and feeling a little better about the game plan and my mastery of the game plan.”
___
AP Pro Football Writers Dave Campbell in Minneapolis and Teresa Walker in Nashville and AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Detroit contributed to this report.
