With the 2012 NFL season just about to start, sports writer Bill Barnwell has published a long piece over at Grantland identifying three big technological changes that could revolutionize the way the game is watched and played. The first is SportVu, a system currently employed in NBA basketball games, which uses a set of cameras along with algorithms derived from missile-tracking software to record each player's individual movements. The second is video known as All-22 film, which, as the name suggests, is shot from an angle affording a view of all 22 players — the NFL recently decided to make this video available as part of its Game Rewind package after serious opposition from some analysts and managers. Finally, changes in the sorts of personal technology allowed on the sidelines could help coaches perform their jobs much more fluidly, using tablets instead of physical printouts of plays — though given the furore that accompanied Joe Horn's famous 2003 flip phone touchdown celebration, we doubt that players will see a similar ease of restrictions any time soon. Head over to Grantland for the full argument.