cover image The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays

The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays

Ron Jaworski with Greg Cosell and David Plaut, Ballantine/ESPN, $26 (336p) ISBN 978-0-345-51795-1

Jaworski, a former NFL star quarterback and analyst of Monday Night Football, with an able assist from Cosell and Plaut, of NFL Films, suggest the future of pro football was transformed by seven crucial games over 40 years. With diagramed plays and strategies, Jaworski expertly analyzes the selected gridiron contests, showing how the sport morphed through the imagination and daring of unorthodox coaching by Sid Gillman, Bud Carson, Don Coryell, Bill Walsh, Buddy Ryan, Dick LeBeau, and Bill Belichick. Jaworski stresses the strengths and weaknesses of each coach and the team he led to glory through masterful moves and countermoves in a game with masterful players and smart defenses. In the end, Jaworski sets aside his TV personality, and offers a thoughtful explication in these pages. (Oct.)