Review of "The Players' Coach"

Having read this book as part of a Goodreads challenge, I found this to be okay.  There was a lot of name dropping by the author as well as some great stories, and some may really enjoy them.  Here is my review of "The Players' Coach."

Title/Author:

“The Players’ Coach: Fifty Years Making NFL’s Best Better – From Bradshaw, Manning, Brady and Beyond” by Tom Moore with Rick Stroud

Rating: 

3 ½  of 5 stars (okay)

Review:

Tom Moore is a person who would be considered a football “lifer.” He proclaims himself to be one in this memoir co-written with Rick Stroud.  Even though he never was named as a head coach of any team, college or NFL, one cannot say that he has not had a successful and interesting career.

Moore shares many stories about himself as well as some of the great players that he has coached.  After getting his first college coaching job at Iowa after graduation, he went on to be an assistant at several colleges, including a rival of Iowa, the University of Minnesota (a place where he considered becoming a head coach before they hired Lou Holtz in 1984).  From there, he transitioned to the NFL in 1977, becoming an assistant to Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll.  After a successful stint in Pittsburgh that included two Super Bowl victories and a promotion to offensive coordinator, he held similar roles for several other NFL teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints (he talks very little about his time there in this book), Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  He won two more Super Bowls – one with the Colts, one with the Buccaneers, and coached in another with the Cardinals.

With a resume like this, it naturally follows that Moore has coached some of the greatest players in this era of football and three of them are in the subtitle.  He has good stories about each one of them, and even better stories about some who were very good but not at the legendary level of these three.  There is a great story on Vikings wide receiver Jake Reed on the assistance Moore gave him when it was discovered a vision problem was hindering his ability to catch passes.  Moore also has kind things to say about his quarterback in Detroit, Scott Mitchell.  When Moore talks about some of these players, those are the best sections to read.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn’t hold my interest as much as these stories as the talk about his moves, the X’s and O’s and other parts of his career just didn’t seem to have the same level of enthusiasm and intangibles. I use that word for this description – just like when an athlete has something extra that can’t be described so it is said that person has “intangibles”.  In this case, those chapters and sections LACK those “intangibles” to make them must-read areas.

That aside, any reader with an interest in a football coach with a lengthy and successful career despite never holding a head coaching position will want to read this book.  If nothing else, read it for some good stories on some of the legendary players in recent NFL history.

I wish to thank Diversion Books for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: The Players' Coach: From Bradshaw to Manning, Brady, and Beyond: Moore, Tom, Stroud, Rick: 9781635769852: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "The Blood and Guts"

I started this book on the Thanksgiving holiday, when football is on the mind of most sports fans who celebrate the holiday, and while it took a little time to complete, this was probably one of the more interesting and fun books I have read on the sport.  Here is my review of a book on tight ends, "The Blood and Guts"

Title/Author:

“The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football” by Tyler Dunn

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

The position of tight end in football is one of the most challenging positions. For a player to excel in this position, he must have the strength to block defensive linemen who may weigh over 300 pounds, be smart enough to read pass coverage by linebackers and safeties, and also be quick enough to outrun 180-pound cornerbacks. But as any football fan knows, there are many who have not only played this position but have done so at a very high level.  Some of these exceptional tight ends are profiled in this entertaining book by Tyler Dunn.

It should be noted that this is not a ranking of the best players to play the position and it is not meant to be taken that just because a player is not profiled that he would not be considered one of the best to have suited up at tight end.  It starts with Mike Ditka, who began the change of strategy in the use of tight ends to be effective pass receivers as well as blockers.  Dunn interviews and shares the stories of 15 tight ends from Ditka to George Kittle and in between, there are so many interesting stories, on-field recaps and very personal memories.

Of the memories and stories, I felt the most emotional ones were for Dallas Clark (who lost his mother to a heart attack) and for Jimmy Graham, who was literally dropped off by his mother at a group home with his clothes in a garbage bag.  Those two stories both resulted in producing great tight ends who would stop at nothing to succeed.  The circumstances are very different and their paths were certainly not identical, but they both made for compelling reading.

That isn’t to say that every player profiled in this book had tragic or hard stories. Some were out of fear (hard to believe Tony Gonzalez didn’t want to play football because he was afraid of the hard contact), some were just from the “boys being boys” category (Jeremy Shockey’s battles with his siblings) and some were just fun (Rob Gronkowski is probably the most notable party animal). But they, along with all the other tight ends profiled, had in common an unquenchable appetite for success and an incredible work ethic to make sure he did his best to achieve that success.

It should also be noted that while the actual game text is not plentiful in this book, the plays and games that are covered are recapped in an excellent manner.  The most compelling of these is one of the most incredible individual performances in NFL history – Kellen Winslow’s performance in the 1982 playoffs for the San Diego Charges in their memorable win over the Miami Dolphins.  That is just one example of the in-game coverage that is very good when it is presented in the context of that player’s story.

Football fans who remember many of the great tight ends since the era of Ditka and John Mackey will love reading about these players, their stories and their performances.  For me, this book was much like Gronkowski’s early NFL career – just a lot of fun to read.

I wish to thank Twelve Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Guts-Tight-Ends-Football/dp/1538723743/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Review of "In the Name of the Father"

There are many interesting football titles that will be released this fall, so I will be reading more about that sport in the next few weeks.  First up for the new football reads is this one on the Manning family. It certainly sheds a different light on the family but still tells about the accomplishments of  the family QBs in a very informative style.  Here is my review of "In the Name of the Father."

Title/Author:

“In the Name of the Father: Family, Football and the Manning Dynasty” by Mark Ribowsky

Tags:

Football (American), biography, family, Saints, Colts, Broncos, Giants,  

Publish date:

August 7, 2018

Length:

400 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Football fans, both college and professional, know about the Manning family.  Father Archie and sons Peyton and Eli all became All-Pro quarterbacks in the NFL and the two sons have each won two Super Bowls. Even their older brother, Cooper, was a football star (although he was a wide receiver) in high school before being diagnosed with spinal stenosis during his freshman year in college.  Their family lineage and royalty in football is told in this very good book by noted biographer Mark Ribowsky.

The story is not all golden as more than just a write-up about the football players and lives on and off the field, the book tells of a culture that was slow to change and how the family members were reflections of that culture from the Deep South. Archie, while becoming a legend at Ole Miss, also was one who reflected the difficulty of the Southern culture to become integrated.  There is never any blatant racism portrayed by any of the Mannings or their spouses but it is clear in Ribowsky’s writing that some of the changes taking place were being accepted slower by them than they were in the rest of the country. 

There are some other dark moments covered in the book, such as the lawsuit filed by a female trainer at the University of Tennessee against Peyton Manning. While the story wasn’t big news at the time, it took new life as Peyton continually denied anything inappropriate took place and he held a long-time grudge against the woman about the case. This is an example of how the author was able to shed new light about the family and its dynamics as well as new information about this particular incident.

Of course, there is plenty of football talk as well.  The careers of all three Manning quarterbacks are illustrated with great detail.  Archie’s woes on bad teams in New Orleans, Houston and Minnesota will make a reader feel his pain.  The joys exhibited by Peyton and Eli are felt as well, especially in Eli’s case when he led the Giants to an upset of the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.  The college careers of all three Mannings are covered just as well, especially Archie as he was considered a king of college football and set many individual records at Ole Miss. These have since been broken by others, but the Manning name is still revered on that campus.

Complete in its research and content, engaging in its writing and informative for readers, this book is one that is recommended for all football fans, whether or not they are fans of any of the Mannings or their teams.

I wish to thank W.W. Norton and Liveright for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (PDF)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Name-Father-Football-Manning-Dynasty-ebook/dp/B076MD6GF9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-name-of-the-father-mark-ribowsky/1127196051?ean=9781631493102#/