The Law of Unintended Consequences

"Spygate" -- the taping of the New York Jets' defensive signals by the New England Patriots -- has, arguably, been the #1 story in the National Football League this past season (sure, the Patriots' undefeated season was big but how many times did you hear about the undefeated season without hearing about the videotaping? And since the Patriots' loss in the Super Bowl we're still hearing about the videotaping).

Now comes word from the Washington Post that the entire controversy may result in the owners supporting "a proposal that would allow one defensive player per team to be connected to a coach on the sideline during games via a wireless communication device."

As the article points out such a communication device, like the one quarterbacks already use, would mean that defensive signals would no longer have to be signaled in. However, as the article also points out, the question would become which defensive player to give the device to? With defensive players shuttling in-and-out of the game quite regularly, finding one defensive player who plays every play in a game might be difficult.

The proposal, which came up two votes short of being approved during last offseason, is expected to be considered at the owner's meeting at the end of March.