“Maybe the biggest difference is there’s so much more information to give to the guys,” says Colts coach Tony Dungy, who played three seasons with the Steelers in the 70s and has been a head coach since 1996. “Twenty years ago, you had the same starters for the most part for seven or eight years. Now, there’s more information pumping to more guys every year and you need to get guys playing well very quickly.”

Patriots coach Bill Belichick also cites technology as a prime difference. But that’s not always a good thing.

“As the multiples (of film breakdowns) increase … You don’t have as much hard data as when plays and personnel groups were similar,” he says. “Now you have film of things occurring one or two times. How much can you bank on a formation they’ve used three times in four weeks? What does that mean? Or a blitz they run one time last month? There’s a lot of that.”

Ironically, Dungy says that as information streams flow faster, players are less equipped to negotiate them.

“Our players are not coming out with the same training they had previously in college,” he attests. “Part of it is the 20-hour rule (college players are allowed to participate in team events for no more than 20 hours each week) and also, we’re not coaching the same guys for a number of years. Now we have different guys, more rookies, more free agents in the system.”

Another challenge, Dungy says, is societal. When you ask a player born in the 1980s to jump, they don’t ask “How high?” They ask, “How come?”

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“It’s not so much, ‘Do it because the coach said do it.’ Players think differently and want an explanation now. Kids aren’t wired that way anymore to just do things and not ask why," Dungy says. "Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s actually good in a lot of ways. Because they understand the process better. Once they know why and believe in what they’re being taught, they are more committed and part of the process."

Bigger paychecks. More attention. More information. If you’re a head coach, that means you need more help.

“Everyone’s staffs are larger,” Holmgren says. “When I went to Green Bay (in 1992) and saw pictures of Vince Lombardi’s staff there were four guys. I have 16. Some teams have over 20. It speaks to specialization and the tendency to keep up with the joneses.”

Joneses? There are a lot of them too — 197 have played in the NFL. One of them goes (or went) by the name Pacman. And you need a coach or two just to keep track of him.