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Cowboys Using Drones In Practice

By Andrew Porter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Typically, Chip Kelly has been the football coach starting new trends and techniques in the NFL. This time, however, it's Jason Garrett and the Dallas Cowboys.

Garrett, heading into his fifth season as Cowboys head coach, has begun using drones to film practices. He got the new-aged idea from SMU football coach Chad Morris.

"We pride ourselves on coaching and teaching our players as well as we can and film has been a big part of the game for a long time," Garrett said via ESPN.com. "Typically you have an end zone shot and a sideline shot. We use a lot of hand-held cameras on the ground. ... One of our coaches went down to SMU for their spring practices and saw they were using it. They liked the angle. We got a chance to see it, so we decided to take a look at it."

More specifically, Garrett explained that the drones give the Cowboys a closer look at the all-22 shot.

"It's interesting because it gives you the chance from behind to see all 11 guys on offense and all 11 guys on defense but from a closer angle," Garrett said. "Oftentimes you have to kind of pull yourself away to get the all-22 shot. This allows you to get a little closer so you can coach better. You can see hand placement. You see where they have their feet, where they have their eyes. I think that's important. You can look at that and coach them better being that much closer to the action."

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