For the New England Patriots, calling in a play is a simple process that involves calling in signals into the radio inside the helmet of the quarterback on offense or the designated player on defense. But on special teams, that’s not the case.
And that’s by choice.
On Tuesday, Patriots special teams coordinator Cam Achord broke down the way the team communicates with players on the field. Achord says that NFL teams have the option to give a designated player a “green dot,” meaning that he has a radio in his helmet that coaches can call plays through.