Hmmm... it would be great to have a schematic, or a personal peek at the VCR. I assume by jack, you have a connector of some sorts with no visible place to go. There are connectors present on both the printed circuit board(s), and on the mechanical section. On the mechanical, there will be connections (in some cases a thin ribbon cable, other times a multi-wire male or female connector) to the video drum assembly, audio/control head, capstan motor, spindle (reels) sensors, and often, carriage sensors.
On older VCRs especially, there are multiple circuit boards, many of which have wired connectors as you describe. These same machines will have connections going to the power supply. I wish I could be more specific for you. If you could send me a of the "long piece" pic @
[email protected] it might help. Hope giving out my email address is cool.