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Cincinnati Bengals trade in playbooks for iPads

Fourteen NFL teams have gone digital with their playbooks, including the Bengals. The advantages for coaches and players are convenience, ease of revision and better preparation.

Back-up Quarterback Bruce Gradkowskidoesn't miss the three-ring binder with hundreds of pages of scouting information and plays. It has been replaced by team issued iPads.

"The big book is big. It's bulky. You have to carry it around everywhere. These iPads are thinner. It's very accessible. You take it anywhere."

By Sunday night Gradkowski is looking at video clips of that day's game. On Monday he receives scouting information for the next match-up and on Tuesday afternoon he's looking at new plays, all on his iPad. Bengals Assistant Offensive Line Coach Kyle Caskeyis the team's unofficial I-T guy, getting players and coaches on board. He says everything they need is there.

"If it's in their hands it's accessible to them. They're going to look at it more which is good for us as coaches because it gets our points accross to them more times during the day because they're flipping through it."

The Bengals take their iPads everywhere, including practice.

The Miami Dolphins fine their players 10-thousand dollars if they forget it or download personal apps. Baltimore and Tampa Bay were the first teams to go digital last year, but with a new coaching staff the Buccaneers returned to paper. The Associated Press reports the Jets, Giants, Seahawks and the 49ers are also using iPads for their medical staff on the sidelines. It stores player medical histories, tests for possible concussions, and is a way to view X-rays.

A longer version of the story ishere.

To see which NFL teams are using iPads click here.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.