How an NFL Equipment staff prepares the team for game day | Atlanta Falcons

Duration: 13:17 1933 transcript words EN summary

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The Atlanta Falcons equipment staff begins their game day preparation well before the players arrive, starting with a rigorous cleaning and maintenance routine for all gear used during practice. After an afternoon session, shoulder pads are left to dry in the sun before being sanitized and aired out overnight to ensure they are ready for the next morning's quick turnaround. The team utilizes specialized tools like GSR, a grass stain remover, to tackle dirt and helmet burns on white jerseys, ensuring players look fresh and professional. This meticulous process extends to the laundry room, where multiple loads of towels and uniforms are washed throughout the day by a dedicated crew that manages six washers and dryers simultaneously to keep up with the high volume of gear required for 90+ roster members. Once the gear is clean, the staff focuses on precise customization and safety checks, particularly for helmets which are now precision-fitted to each player's head. Equipment technicians perform hardware inspections, replace chin sleeves for hygiene, and use heat guns to reapply team logos like the falcon bird, ensuring every detail looks perfect before a game. They also verify that flags are intact and NFL logos are undamaged, while organizing specific items such as cleats, knee braces, and toiletries into individual travel bags labeled with player names. This organization is crucial because if a cleat rips during a game, players must immediately have a comfortable backup pair ready, making the preparation of footwear a top priority alongside other specialized equipment like wrist guards and thigh pads. The logistical complexity of game day involves coordinating multiple carts, trailers, and pop-up units to transport everything from ball bags to field goal posts, with the team arriving at the stadium around 6:00 AM to set up as quickly as possible. The staff works in synchronized shifts, separating tasks between fields to avoid congestion and ensuring that specific setups, like moving field goal posts for kicking practice, are handled efficiently. A key part of their operation is the partnership with a moving company called Pant Movement, which acts as an extension of the equipment staff by managing the transport of gear from hotels to the stadium, whether they are playing at home or on the road. This seamless logistics network allows the team to bring backup jerseys for kickers and any other unexpected needs without delay. Finally, the entire week culminates in a comprehensive setup that serves as an appetizer before the full season begins, involving the preparation of uniforms, cleats, helmets, and pads for every member of the organization from coaches to support staff. On off days, the team often hosts "helmet parties" where players buy pizza while equipment guys perform thorough three-to-three-and-a-half-hour checks on all gear, followed by pre-packing bags for the next day's needs. This routine ensures that whether it is a preseason game or a regular season match, every individual has their specific items assigned and ready, reflecting a culture where attention to detail and teamwork are essential to running a professional football operation successfully.

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So, right now we just finished up about a 90° practice here in the middle of the afternoon. So, we have a padded practice in the morning. So, right now we'll uh let the uh shoulder pads bake out here in the sun. We'll sanitize them in a couple hours. We'll put them in our locker room, let them air out for the rest of the night. >> Every piece of equipment the players wear is like tagged and that kind of tells us how fast they're running at practice, how much distance they cover, and basically this thing just checks them in, checks them out, tells them these guys are done with practice. >> Just because we have a quick turnaround tomorrow with the morning practice tomorrow, uh we let them dry out here and then tonight once they're dry, we'll bring them back in and we'll throw the jersey on tonight. That way when the players come in in the morning, we don't have to worry about that and we can just worry about setting up the field. So basically this right here is GSR. So it's a grass stain remover. So basically on days like today where guys are hitting the ground and stuff and since we're practicing on grass, we just like to throw a scoop of this in here. Kind of helps helps the washer out a little bit. gets most of those stains out, any helmet burns on the numbers, things like that. This will kind of whiten everything back out. Especially on these white jerseys, it's a big deal for us to make the guys look nice and fresh when they get out. I'll tell you, this is probably the only time I've ever seen nothing in this laundry room on um we do a couple sweeps a day around the building. I'd say it's probably around [music] loads of laundry day. >> Well, we do 3 in the morning with our morning sweep. It's usually two towels, one loops, >> and then one while they're in meetings and lifts. Let's see if we can get more uh player stuff in there before. >> So, that's probably another towels and [music] loops. So, another two right before practice. We'll do one. Another towels and loops. six. The gloves always big glove guy for me. After practice, I will say we do another 12 or 13. >> But like, you know, that's we have five, six washers and we have six dryers over there. So, it's pretty it makes it pretty easy here with the amount of things that we have to kind of keep everything pumping. And we kind of try to make sure that we always have somebody around the laundry room to keep everything moving, coming out the dryer, folding towels, passing out loops. Let's give these puppies some air. [music] This time of year, we use these for our walkthroughs. So today, we had a walk through in the morning and practice [music] was in the afternoon for our first game. we're at home, so we'll be wearing the dark uniforms. The defense will be wearing white. So, that's why we kind of like to do that to give uh the players the the right look, you know, how it'll be in the game, >> huh? >> Yeah. Field two. Field two. And then uh yeah, we'll put the field goal post down there on the hill cuz they'll kick field goals today. >> Yeah. And leave it pushed up and then after field goal, we'll push it back. >> Yeah. Leave it on the line. There we go. Perfect. So, usually we'll show up around uh 6:00, 6:15, get going a little bit, get some breakfast. 6:45 we load the ball bags, start making our way out here. We got three carts. We got my Indie trailer, we got a pop-up cart, and then we got a clock for uh the clocks. We kind of separate and figure out and try the best way to get everything set up as fast as possible. Like if we're on field two, he doesn't want it over there just in case. >> Okay. it's on the sideline and we're backed up or something. He's cool with kind of having like him being here and Olly there so that they can be together. 905 practice it gets [music] gets quick so we just try to get out here as early as possible. All right. All ready. Field two today. We'll go to uh special teams jog through to start. So we'll do plus seven going into the barn. We'll go to break. Will's got it. Period. 10. Field goal. Field goal block. Move the ball. Plus 24 going into the hill. One-on- ones blocking and pass pro today. field one to the hill uh for wide receivers DBs. So we're using Petri's [music] gauntlet for ball security. >> Offense and defense or just offense? Just offense. [music] at least like this. >> I'll try to do something tonight. At least >> cut those off a little bit. So, chin sleeve is changed. Obviously, like on every off day, I'll go through and change out chin sleeves for hygiene purposes. Uh but then also I'll do a hardware check, check with guys before and after practice. Hey, how does it feel? Because again, all these helmets now are precision fit to their heads. Right now, we're just redecing them. Obviously, we're introducing a new uniform this year. And you want it to be you want to look great every time, but you especially want to look the best the first time. So, what we're going to do is we'll go through and um if we have chipped birds, we'll go ahead and tear those off, get them on here, use the heat gun, get them get them looking right. Just heat the bird up. You know, you can always see the outline. So, if you got a good outline on the previous bird, you just reuse it. You know, on the long line from the tail to the beak, make [music] sure that's down the way that I want it. And as you push the bird down, that adhesive will >> [music] >> lay down a little bit better. Last but not least, we're going to clean the shell. Also checking back bumpers, [music] checking the flags, making sure the the flags not ripped, make sure the NFL logo is not ripped. There we go. One down, however many more to go. You know, usually we'll do this on Thursday nights. We have a Sunday game and some guys will take care of us and buy us pizza and a few other things. You know, it's a good time. That's why we call it a helmet party. a good thorough check, two and a half, three hours, you know, just to make sure. Then we'll drop bags for the next day and uh start prepacking those um for some guys and making sure, you know, depending on the fit, you know, they got to wear the right cleat and everything like that. >> Joey was saying you've been doing cases for like 30 years now. >> Yeah, it feels like it. When did you uh first start? >> My first year was 97. >> Everybody that's on the sideline from the coaches to the trainers to the video guys to the doctors to the the other equipment guys, but we're basically outfitting all of them with pants, shoes, hats, shirts. Basically, I lay the menu out. There's like five items and then I just let them pick which one they want. Usually like a polo, a long sleeve, a short sleeve, hoodie shirt. It's kind of like the options. So everybody has like kind of a name. So I just I label the belts. I label the shoes. So when everybody turns it in, I know who to return it to. I just kind of manage it throughout the season. So I get it done the first time and then it's just managing. Everybody turns it in, I wash it, match it. Yeah. But when you got to start everybody from scratch, belts, pants, shirts. Yeah. We learning a whole new staff on top of all the players. We got to assign that are new draft class. Just try to get everybody like in a routine. Yeah. >> And sometimes that takes time. [music] >> [music] >> So, we're getting ready to go over to the stadium this afternoon [music] and load in for our first preseason game. So, basically, we have everything and anything that we [music] need for the game for all the coaches, the players, the support staff, uh, to [music] be able to to run a football game. Even bring a backup jersey for a kicker. You never know. [music] >> It's been a while since we've [music] been in the stadium. So, usually the first home preseason game is a little more uh than a [music] normal game in terms of what we pack and what we bring. Uh we kind of have to get everything set. Uh, and then once [music] you kind of have it set for for one game, you can kind of just fill in for the rest of the year. Our week in a nutshell is is [music] preparing, you know, uniforms, uh, cleats, helmets, shoulder pads, uh, everything [music] for 90 plus guys on the roster. These sheets here, each guy's name, he's got a game jersey pack, backup jersey, game pants, travel bag. You got a lot of bags, Jimmy. >> Shoulder pads, helmet, two pairs of cleats, right and a left. Not two rights, not two lefts. Knees and thighs. Some guys have wrist guards, knee braces, anything specialized for each guy. We have these little cards in each bag. Um, some guys like a toiletry bag. >> [clears throat] >> Some guys need a comb, you know, you name it, man. Cleat is the biggest thing because if a cleat rips in the game, um, you know, they got to have another pair that they're comfortable with. Uh, Pant Movement is our moving company. Uh, they've been with us for a while. Whether we're here at the home stadium, we're on the road. Uh it's getting out of here, getting to the truck, getting to the plane, getting to the hotel, getting to the stadium. Uh [music] these do these guys do a fantastic job. They're they're really an extension of our staff. >> Everything. >> God, I hope so. I hope that's everything. >> And uh we can't do this without them. All the guys are out getting the lockers ready. We have 70 lockers around the perimeter for our locker room. So, we have to bring in about 20 to 25 this time of year where the the roster is at 90. So, we put the rookies in the middle the smaller lockers. It's just one game this year. First one up, Nick here. >> We put all the uniforms out um day before uh and we put them all in in front of everybody's locker and it's just like the fifth check to make sure everybody's got a jersey and pants. >> Preseason is more than just the players and the coaches getting ready for the plays. It's it's really for for everybody. Uh a nice appetizer before we uh sit down and eat the full meal for the season.