There is a technological revolution in the NFL this year. The Cleveland Browns knew this when they, like everyone else in the league, received tablet computers. Players on other teams raved about the ability to share typed notes and store everything they need on their machines.

The Browns got those. And then the coaching staff made sure to hand them something else: a pad of paper.

Armed with science and a little common sense, first-year Browns coach Mike Pettine is stressing to his players the old-school notion of writing things down. The strategy is backed up by new academic studies that say writing by hand instead of typing improves your chances of learning something.

For an NFL team, which spends hours upon hours explaining plays in team meetings, this can be crucial. A coach, giving a broad directive about a play, must run through numerous small tasks the players must do on a single play—like watching the right guard's left arm at the snap. Good memory is crucial.

Pettine said the players' notebooks feature countless "graduate-level" details about the team's plays in their basic, Browns-themed notebooks, which are something of a secret weapon.