As a casual fan (like most of us here are) I find it rather frustrating to find myself out of resources to get to know the game deeper. I did try Kirwan's book the other time, and while it was in general good, that book didn't delve deeply into the game itself. So here's my question: if you want to get to know the X's and O's more, where do you turn to?
Football for Dummies is a really good book I gave my girlfriend (who also wants to get more into football). And I highly recommend after that Blood, Sweat and Chalk (which I am reading now), which just gives a cool history on different formations.
I tried Blood, Sweat and Chalk already. That book is not good. Seriously, that book is filled with errors. If you go to amazon, and read the review from the readers, you'll realize I'm not the only one hating that book. and... as for Football for dummies... thanks for the advice, but I need something higher than that.
"Blood, Sweat and Chalk" is more about the coaches than it is about the technical aspects of the sport. Each chapter contains only one drawing for the specific scheme that is being covered. It is a good book for what it is. If you want an overview of how the sport changed through the years and why certain schemes became popular and you like reading about coaches, then the book works. If you want hardcore technical shit, then the book is not good enough. One of the chapters had some sort of printing glitch. Multiple sentences on the bottom of one page were repeated on the following page. The error that really pissed me off appeared in the west coast offense chapter. The author wrote that Greg Cook was injured at Riverfront Stadium when Bobby Bell knocked him on the hard artificial turf. C'mon man! The injury occurred at Nippert Stadium on grass. How the hell did such a mistake get made? The author, Tim Layden, obviously didn't even bother to look for that play on film anywhere and he couldn't possibly have done much research on it. That particular error just cannot be made. At least he had the correct Kansas City defender, though. It was indeed Bobby Bell who effectively ended the tremendously promising career of Cook. Bill Walsh called a rollout pass which required the running back to come across the formation and block Bell. Bell blitzed and manhandled Paul Robinson and then dumped Cook on his shoulder.
The Pro Style by Tom Bennett is definitely higher than Football For Dummies and Blood, Sweat and Chalk. It is an old book, published in 1976 by National Football League Properties, Inc. In my opinion, it is the best Xs and Os book outside of the very technical instructional type books- and most of those are geared towards amateur football anyway. The AFCA has published several books but those books bore me. The Pro Style is great for the old NFL photos alone. The Oilers in light blue helmets vs the Giants at Yankee Stadium was particularly interesting because of its uniqueness (old school team vs an at-the-time new school team in an ancient baseball stadium). Some all-time classic football photos are also in the book. There is a nice wide shot of the entire field and surrounding area of a game between Canton and Massillon in 1906. Also included are photos of the indoor 1932 Bears-Spartans game and the 1947 NFL Championship Game which was played in a blizzard. There is also a six photograph sequence of Bob Lilly's 29-yard sack of Bob Griese in Super Bowl 6. Because this book was published by the NFL there are many photos that were taken from up high in the stadiums. I don't know of any other football book that contains these types of photos. "The Pursuit of Perfection" on pages 16-95 explains how the style of the sport evolved through the years. "Twelve Called 'Coach'" on pages 96- 109 is a study of 12 head coaches who had a great influence on the sport. "Confrontation" is probably the best chapter of the book. From the contents page: "A 100-page photographic essay revealing the point-and-counterpoint process in which pro football teams 'mess with each other's minds' and play a physical guessing game of confrontation." This section contains a bunch of quotes from coaches and players. Some examples- "Every team playing four linemen ends up in an overshift or an undershift. Hardly anyone plays just a straight four-three anymore." -Bum Phillips "If I were allowed to run one play, it would be the fullback slant to the weakside. In my opinion it is the one great play in football." -Chuck Knox Here are titles of a few of the essays- Bubble Stacks, Stunts, Slants Dangers of the Scrape Points of Attack Influence Force, Gap, Coordinate Linebacker Control Beating Zones Pages 209-217 is a diagram history of football. Included here is the Minnesota shift of 1910, Don Hutson's first play in the NFL, Steve Owen's A formation, the Green Bay sweep, *shotgun-inspired spreads, and the wishbone. Diagram 39 shows where the NFL hashmarks were located through the years. *This one contained four diagrams- Detroit's "Zephyr" formation of 1961, the Eagles stacked deck of 1961, Denver's "double stack", and L.A.'s "outpost and settlement" of 1964. In this play, the Rams put two QBs on the field. Bill Munson was part of the "settlement" with a tackle, two guards, a center, an end and a halfback. To the far left of the formation was Terry Baker with two ends and a tackle. This book definitely makes my top 10 of best football books. Click on this link to view a few pages of the book- http://www.etsy.com/listing/62837141/vintage-the-pro-style-guide-to-football Edit- In the bibliographic essay in America's Game, Michael MacCambridge wrote that "Tom Bennett's The Pro Style is the best one-stop Xs and Os overview, smartly integrating text and illustrations. Less visually appealing, but every bit as well written and illuminating, is Kevin Lamb's Quarterbacks, Nickelbacks and Other Loose Change."
I would recommend Paul Zimmerman's The Thinking Mans guide to Pro Football or The New Thinking Man's Guide to Pro Football.
