Have you ever watched an NFL game and seen a quarterback standing in the huddle and looking at his wrist while calling a play? Of course you have. It happens in pretty much every NFL game. Have you ever wanted to actually see one of those wrist bands? If you have, you're in luck! If you haven't, oh well. You're going to see one anyway.
Thanks to a Reddit user that snapped a picture at the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, we have a picture here of one of Tom Brady's play-calling wrist bands. (Note: The Patriots' wrist bands have multiple flaps. That's why you'll occasionally see Brady lifting up a piece of the band to look underneath and call a play.)
The picture does not specify which year that wrist band is from but, as Chris Brown explored on Grantland a few years ago, the Patriots actually have one of the NFL's most simplified play-calling systems due to the fact that their pass plays are named by concept, rather than by route. (Notice how very few of the plays on the wristband above mention a particular receiver or route name. Instead, they include names of concepts like "HOSS SNOW" (Play No. 41) which let the receivers on each side of the field know what they are meant to run.)
Not only that, but because the plays are numbered and the Patriots often use a one-word audible system to call the plays at the line, they can all be easily communicated to everyone else on the field when the Patriots go into their hurry-up offense.
Because of all that, it's likely that the wrist bands used by quarterbacks of other teams are even more packed than the one Brady apparently used at some point in the last 15 years.
Wink of the CBS Eye to SportsGrid
