Bucs go high-tech with iPad playbooks

Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris was lying on the beach during the lockout watching highlights of rookies Mason Foster, Adrian Clayborn and Da'Quan Bowers on his iPad when a thought occurred to him.

"I wonder if we could put our entire playbook on these things?'' Morris said.

Morris tossed around the idea with Jay Kaiser, his assistant, as he envisioned giving his entire team a portable film room. Instead of just handing guys a paper playbook, Morris thought iPads could become Tampa Bay's video playbook.

As a result of Morris' vision, Tampa Bay might be at the forefront of a football revolution.

Tampa Bay issued traditional playbooks and iPads to coaches and the 90 players who reported to training camp.

"It's beautiful," linebacker Geno Hayes said. "It's better than a playbook because you have more interaction with it."

Before Morris could make his dream into a reality, though, he had to convince Bucs co-chairman Bryan Glazer to purchase the iPads.

"I went back to the office and I happened to catch Bryan Glazer hanging out in his office one day and I said, 'I got an idea,'" Morris said. "I didn't sit down because I wanted to be intimidating. So, I had him sit in his seat and then I stood up and I had Jay walk around him so (Glazer) could get a grasp of it.

"I started talking about putting the playbook on there and getting 90 for everybody in camp and for all the coaches and he immediately threw his hands up in the air and said, 'It sounds great.'"

Morris relied on Chris Wells, the team's director of football technology, and Dave Levy, the video director, to put together a video playbook that would be secure against electronic theft. Coaches normally show videos of every play during daily film study sessions, and all of that information was transferred to an iPad.

If a player wants to watch a cut-up, all he has to do is push a button. If a player wants to study a play, he can see it on the iPad. Coaches also can implement game plans on players' iPads.

"You're actually in the film room," Hayes said. "You can draw up the defense we have called in certain formations. It's more hands-on. Instead of going through the playbook and flipping the pages, you can just flip it on and go wherever you need to go."

Bucs players raved about the convenience.

"We're in a technology world, and it makes you want to carry it around more," cornerback Elbert Mack said. "With a DVD, it was a hassle. You could only watch it in certain spots where you had a DVD player set up. With this, you can watch it in the bathroom, or wherever you're at.

"Right before you got to bed, you might want to catch a few plays. During commercials, you can watch TV and watch plays. Whenever you have some down time waiting on food to get finished, you watch it. It's more convenient than a DVD, I know that."

The more Bucs players and coaches use iPads, the more ideas continue to blossom.

Tampa Bay uses its iPads to distribute memos for general manager Mark Dominik, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement and weekly itineraries.

Right guard Davin Joseph, however, is still adjusting.

"I use the playbooks to learn plays and I take a lot of notes within my playbook," Joseph said. "That's something that I've just become used to, so I have a routine when it comes to learning blocking schemes and depth charts and things of that sort.

"But what the iPad does is, you can take film home in one device. Before, you had to buy a computer and it was like an $11,000 or $12,000 computer to be able to take film home and then you had to get it loaded up every week. So, this allows guys to take the film home and even if you're just watching 30 minutes or 45 minutes at home, it helps you get accustomed to things."

Joseph will have a year to get accustomed to his iPad, because Morris intends to get rid of traditional playbooks next season and go 100 percent electronic.

By then, using iPads at One Buc Place will be like a walk on the beach.

"If guys take it and use it for what it's worth, it will make the team a lot better," Hayes said. "Now guys can sit around and talk about how I saw this on this on this play or this on that play.

"You can kind of bounce ideas on what we can do here and make our defense better. If guys take it and use it to their full maximum potential, it will make this defense as a whole better, and as an individual, it will make you better."