Videotape is as essential to NFL culture as training rooms and playbooks. It runs like a current through game preparation. There are infamous Monday film sessions in which coaches, armed with laser beams, grill players in front of the entire team. Late-night game-planning sessions, aided by the clicker to rewind.
It's no wonder Indianapolis Colts architect Bill Polian couldn't begin to get the deflating Super Bowl loss to the New Orleans Saints out of his system until he saw the videotape. It's what they do in the NFL. Confront the demon. Kick the chair. Move on. Polian studied the video the day after the game and twice more over the next three weeks.
"It didn't turn out any differently," Polian grumbled. "The game turned on two plays — the third-and-1 at the end of the half and the onside kick to start the second half."
Indeed, the momentum swings are no less crucial on video. When Mike Hart was stuffed on third-and-1, it forced a punt that the Saints parlayed into a field goal as the first half expired. Then New Orleans opened the second half by recovering the gutsy onside kick, which led to a go-ahead touchdown.
With just under four minutes remaining, the curtain closed on a Colts campaign that only weeks earlier had fueled debate about the pros and cons of pursuing a perfect season. A pass by MVP quarterback Peyton Manning was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by cornerback Tracy Porter. Ballgame.