Gary Myers (2)

An amazing and fabulous look into the other side of coaching in the NFL. According to my Kindle, I had 31 bookmarks. It felt like so many more since it seemed every page was something new, exciting, or awe-inspiring in some cases. As a Giants fan, I loved that it opened with SB46. But I also loved the look backs into NFL history.

-Tom Coughlin and Belichick. Even though they've been on opposing sides of two recent Super Bowls, the two are so closely linked via Parcells that their looking for show more one another and "long embrace" shouldn't be surprising - but somehow it always is. They - and from the younger generation, Sean Payton keep Parcells' legacy alive in the NFL. Just as it's a different NFL without Brett Favre, it will be a different one without these two men.and while they're serious, there's also a celebratory side to them - Coughlin hugging Flava Flav after the Win. Eli seeking out his head coach after the celebrations. Manning and Coughlin have a bond. The fraternity of coaches helping one another - Dungy, Reid...

"When I called Pete Rozelle at home the night (Tom) Landry was fired, he said, 'This is like Lombardi's death' It was a shocking reminder to every man who has ever stood on the sidelines: if it can happen to Landry, it can happen to me,
While the hostile takeover in Dallas was a little before I began watching football, it's a football milestone everyone knows. Yet I didn't know it in such detail.

What was also interesting in hindsight was the duel between the Pats and Jets and how much Parcells loves the drama. Speaks volumes to his value as a head coach that he still was able to work in the NFL after the nuttiness he pulled... twice. But then, this explains it: "The Parcells coaching tree has produced eight Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl championships, and the two losses came when one of the branches defeated the other. Combine that with Parcells's three appearances and two championships, and that's a total of 11 Super Bowls and eight championships in the first 46 Super Bowls. That means there's been a Parcells connection to nearly 25 percent of all the Super Bowls."

Favre trick or treating at Holmgren's. Shanahan coming back to Elway, and then beating Reeves. Shanahan wondering if a prank was going to kill Al Davis - so much behind the scenes, So many memories.

Some sad moments too - reading the section on Joe (God) Gibbs' return and the handling of the team following Sean Taylor's death was especially poignant - reading it shortly after the 5th anniversary of Taylor's passing.

Loved that the lens of Peyton Manning leaving Indy was framed through Elway & Fox's redemption in Denver - and less about the drama that ensued when he left Indy.

I have read some of Myers' articles, but even being in NY I don't read him all that often so I don't know how much of this info is recycled. Some of the history is though - you can't mention Accorsi without hearing all about how Elway was ripped from under him. Overall, a wonderful read. show less

I'd say one would have to like football to want to read this book, and one would probably need to like one of the two title QBs to like it. I think Peyton is probably the best player to ever play, but...Brady has more rings.

I learned a bunch of things about the two, but I at last had a reckoning of the game I consider to be worse than the two horrible Brady/Patriots losses to a lesser team in the Superbowl: the 2006/7 AFC Championship game. I was in Korea at the time and the game was on show more early Monday morning there. I had to design meetings that I could not avoid and so missed the game, taping it so I could watch later. Between those meetings, I learned the Pats were up 21-6 at the half, and went into the second meeting feeling good. When I was done, I called my wife and heard that they lost. A couple of days later, I talked to my best friend, Rick Cheeseman, who was now back in the states and told him I couldn't bear to watch the tape. He told me, "Dude, you have to watch it. First half was all Pats, third quarter was all Colts, and the fourth quarter was an Ali-Frazier slugfest to see who could be the last standing!" I was more of a fanatic fan back then and I didn't like who was the last standing...so I tossed the tape in the trash. Myers told me in this book how close it really was in that slugfest fourth quarter.

Myers had great access in writing this book and does a good, clinical job of writing the narrative. Myers talks about the friendship between the two and how they relate with others off the field, painting them both as two incredibly focused and driven competitors. There might be some eye openers here for some (a few for me), but even though they are both good guys who have human sides, when it comes their chosen profession, there will always be haters for the two best quarterbacks to play the game. show less

as a huge NFL fan and big fan of the Mannings I wondered how much of this would be truly "untold". I walked away pleasantly surprised to learn significant new information about the QBs, their current and past QBs and the rivalry. Like Myers said in his conclusion, you can't go wrong with either QB. Except, I'd say, when it comes to pranking. Then I'd avoid both.
As someone who is less of a PAts fan, I enjoyed the new-to-me info on Bledsoe being "Pipped" and some of the back story of Brady's show more UM career. Like Myers' other NFL books, a great read show less

On January 10, 1982 the San Francisco 49’ers defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship game on one of the most memorable catches in NFL history. Late in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, San Francisco quarterback Joe Montana threw up a prayer to wide receiver Dwight Clark in the end zone, beating Dallas 28-27. This improbable catch launched the San Francisco 49’ers into Super Bowl XVI, which they won over the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.

The theme of this book is that show more this seminal catch by Dwight Clark marked the rise of the San Francisco 49’ers, winners of five Super Bowls and the team of the 1980’s, and the demise of the Dallas Cowboys, who slowly declined into obscurity.

There is a lot to like about this book. This is a great theme and the author supports it well through describing the highs and lows of the players that struggled on this overcast afternoon in January. But it is so poorly written and sloppily organized that at times I found it infuriating and ultimately very disappointing.

The book is mostly about the rise of the 49’ers and the decline of the Dallas Cowboys told through the prism of this one game and one catch. For the 49’ers, a loss might have meant either a longer climb to a championship, or maybe even a resigned Walsh going elsewhere and no championships at all. Cowboys’ players said a win might have given them the confidence and moxie to win another championship or more under the helm of Danny White, the Dallas quarterback playing in the long shadow of a retired Roger Staubach. But instead, the teams went in different directions.

For the 49’ers this marked the success of Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense and the solidification of Joe Montana as his quarterback. Both rose to incredible heights in the 1980’s. Much of the 49’ers story revolves around Bill Walsh and Joe Montana, as well as the players and coaches around them that saw this seminal moment turn into a decade of excellence.

For the Cowboys this loss raised the red flag on an aging team, with a sometimes aloof quarterback in Danny White trying prove he could lead them to a championship. It also marked the beginning of the end for legendary coach Tom Landry who seemed to lose touch with the players and the game. Much is said about the inability of Danny White, a very fine quarterback, to ever rise out of the shadow of Staubach. He led the team to three straight NFC Championships but didn’t win any of them. Add to that an aging defense and a sudden lack of confidence, you had a team clearly on the decline.

The author tells the post-game story of many of the players on both sides of the ball. Ironically, most of the Cowboys’ stories are not good ones. It’s as if this game marked not only the decline of the team, but the decline of its players both professionally and personally.

But as noted earlier this is a poorly written and organized book that needed a more competent editor. The writing is poor, frankly, and not very engaging to read. Worse yet, even within chapters the author jumps from one chronological point to another, often abruptly, which destroys the flow of the story and the engagement of the reader.

Would I recommend the book? The stories about the players and coaches are very interesting and add to the history of both teams. If you don’t mind the poor writing and organization, it is worth the read. show less