While the Pittsburgh Steelers are not exactly an organization awash in analytics, they have never been afraid to try different things to figure out what works for them. One of the things they are experimenting with this year is the use of a helmet cam for the quarterback position that will allow players to study plays from their own point of view.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound as though Kenny Pickett has been particularly enamored with it up to this point. While it may be partly a matter of getting used to it and figuring out how to get the most out of what it offers, he notes it has some significant drawbacks.
“It’s really hard to see sometimes, like if the pocket’s getting pushed back or something, you can’t really see as well”, he told reporters during minicamp, via Amanda Godsey. “The regular tape is what I really look at the most, because I want to be able to articulate to coach Sully [Mike Sullivan] what I saw, and when I go back and watch it on tape and it’s exactly what I saw, it verifies what I’m seeing. I use the normal tape a lot more than that”.
As with presumably every other team, the Steelers film all of their practice sessions to break down later on. Pickett seems to feel as though he gets more out of reviewing the traditional, overhead tape rather than what purports to be his own perspective. Not that it’s useless.
“There’s some things you can take from it, like where I’m starting with my eyes pre-snap and stuff. So it’s been good. Just little things, I wouldn’t say too many big things”, he said. But, half-jokingly, he offered another interesting use—learning from others’ perspectives. “It’s a little weird. I want to put it on Minkah [Fitzpatrick] and then I can watch and see what he looks at. Hopefully I can dish it over to him”.
I think there is something to be gained from seeing the game from the point of view of your opponent. If you can glean something about, perhaps, what Fitzpatrick is looking at during a play, you might get a feel for what he is anticipating, and in turn you can develop counters to break up your tendencies. Granted, not every safety is Minkah Fitzpatrick. But it’s something.
It should be said that the Steelers are not exactly relying on this helmet cam technology. It’s just something that they are trying out, something they have done with other different kinds of technology in the past, including robotic mobile tackling dummies.
If Pickett’s review is anything to go by, however, I’m not sure it’s going to catch on, at least not in the Steelers’ quarterback room. It might be interesting to hear what the other quarterbacks have had to say about it as well, assuming they have had the opportunity to use it.
