Palmer puts on the STRIVR oculusthe virtual-reality headsetfor 20 minutes so he can review a few plays from Thursdays practice. He says hes a dinosaur, the only member of the offense who needs the playbook in a thick three-ring binder instead of exclusively on a tablet. And he says he fought using the virtual-reality device for weeks last summer when the Cardinals became one of the first NFL teams to adopt the technology. A 360-degree camera is placed on a thin tripod next to the quarterback at practice, and its designed to see everything he sees, so that when Palmer puts the headset on he can move his head in any direction and watch, exactly at the moment, everything happening around him. After Palmer walks off the practice field on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, he uses the STRIVR system to spot blitz keys. He also has a unit at home that he hooks up to a laptop. The screen is smaller, but the experience is still immersive enough to get a good look at what the scout-team defense is bringing.
Its phenomenal, Palmer says. I dont buy in to all the new technology, Im archaic, and I thought, There is no way this can change the way I play quarterback. But I am all in on this. Ill watch pressures on this during the week, and I swear I have flashbacks from a game, seeing the same pressures. The other thing that is cool about it is watching mechanics, because I can put the camera behind me. So if Im in the pocket standing one way, I can put the camera behind me, I can have it to my right and to my left, and I can watch my feet. I can watch my arm whip at different angles and make sure my elbow is in the right spot. I can watch my feet stepping into throws, and I can go back and see complete or incomplete. Am I putting the ball in the right spot? Was it on his face or was it low back hip? You can accurately see where you missed a throw, or you can see why that throw was so good, because you can see yourself transferring weight and stepping into it.
