Book Review: NFL Confidential by Johnny Anonymous

[Hapless Bills Fan]

25 minutes ago, JMF2006 said:

I would think most of that stuff did go on before McD got here and righted the ship to build the current culture..

 

I hope so.  There are definitely a couple things described in AdPro that I was like "seriously?" then after reading the book I'm like "OK, good idea, meets player needs" - the nap pods, the space in the locker room full of comfortable recliner chairs, the emphasis the interviewed players and coaches put on "rest" getting ready for the Thurs game.

 

One thing that was clear is how paramount in importance coaching at all positions and a good game plan is, and I feel like the jury is still out there a bit for the Bills.

 

[PromoTheRobot]

It sounds like it would make a great movie one day...or Netflix series.

12 hours ago, Rc2catch said:

I would choose the backup easy money role. I think if I could have any job I’m taking kicker. 

 

The pressure on kickers is intense. You can't mess up... ever. Kickers lasting more than a season or two with one team are as rare as Yetis.

Edited January 24, 2020 by PromoTheRobot

[blacklabel]

I read most of this a couple years ago, thought it was pretty interesting to see how certain players approach the game, why they play, etc. I do agree that the guy came off a little indignant in parts and I'm sure he made some broad generalizations here and there. Overall, not too bad.

 

Another one I enjoyed was Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson, he was a WR for the Broncos and mainly played on special teams, had some rough injuries. He was in Denver when McDaniels was HC and he didn't have the best things to say about that guy, haha. 

 

I'd also recommend Collision Low Crossers by Nicholas Dawidoff. He spent the 2011 season with the Jets and gives an excellent behind the scenes look at everything that goes into a season. You get a lot of insight on ol' Rexy boy, and Pettine, who he had as his DC at the time. Rex would get real carried away with defensive play designs and Pettine would be the one to ground him, like, "OK, if we do that, how do we cover this?" You also get a look at how Rex was during games, seemed to think they always had an ace in the hole type of play they could run but he was always hesitant to call it. Maybe my favorite part is when Pettine and some of the other assistant coaches glued the lid of the peanut butter jar and then watched on the security cameras as Rex become increasingly frustrated that he couldn't get the jar open for his late night snack. Rex would put the jar down and say, "Whatever then, I don't need any g*ddamn peanut butter." But then a minute later he'd be trying to pry it open and swearing at it. Pretty fun. 

 

And if you're looking to understand the X's and O's, I'd suggest the two Take Your Eye Off the Ball books by Pat Kirwan. He's also written a series called Go Deeper where he highlights a specific position. I believe he's only written one on QBs at this time and it's an e-book. Good stuff, though. He breaks things down in ways that are easy to understand. 

 

I read a buncha foosball books a couple years back when I thought I was gonna start a draft blog or something. 

[416BillsFan]

Thanks OP, I'll check that one out. If you haven't read Mark Leibovich's Big Game: The NFL in dangerous times, I highly recommend it. Warning though, the author is a P*ts fan - though he takes plenty of shots at them.

[thenorthremembers]

7 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

I read most of this a couple years ago, thought it was pretty interesting to see how certain players approach the game, why they play, etc. I do agree that the guy came off a little indignant in parts and I'm sure he made some broad generalizations here and there. Overall, not too bad.

 

Another one I enjoyed was Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson, he was a WR for the Broncos and mainly played on special teams, had some rough injuries. He was in Denver when McDaniels was HC and he didn't have the best things to say about that guy, haha. 

 

I'd also recommend Collision Low Crossers by Nicholas Dawidoff. He spent the 2011 season with the Jets and gives an excellent behind the scenes look at everything that goes into a season. You get a lot of insight on ol' Rexy boy, and Pettine, who he had as his DC at the time. Rex would get real carried away with defensive play designs and Pettine would be the one to ground him, like, "OK, if we do that, how do we cover this?" You also get a look at how Rex was during games, seemed to think they always had an ace in the hole type of play they could run but he was always hesitant to call it. Maybe my favorite part is when Pettine and some of the other assistant coaches glued the lid of the peanut butter jar and then watched on the security cameras as Rex become increasingly frustrated that he couldn't get the jar open for his late night snack. Rex would put the jar down and say, "Whatever then, I don't need any g*ddamn peanut butter." But then a minute later he'd be trying to pry it open and swearing at it. Pretty fun. 

 

And if you're looking to understand the X's and O's, I'd suggest the two Take Your Eye Off the Ball books by Pat Kirwan. He's also written a series called Go Deeper where he highlights a specific position. I believe he's only written one on QBs at this time and it's an e-book. Good stuff, though. He breaks things down in ways that are easy to understand. 

 

I read a buncha foosball books a couple years back when I thought I was gonna start a draft blog or something. 

Collison Low Crossers was was very very good.   Next Man Up was another good read about the on-goings inside a professional football operation.

 

If you're into X's and O's The Art of Smart Football is a good starter.   

 

My wife bought me Bill Belichick on Football for Christmas and that's been a nice read on how to put a team together.   A couple interesting quotes "You do anything you can to win within the confines of the rules, you dont want to pass the line where you're cheating."   Ironic considering, but brought to mind how often they use rub routes, which is clearly cheating.   The other brought to mind Joe Judge "You're always happy when someone on your staff gets an opportunity, but when their opportunity turns into you losing resources thats where the line is crossed.  Again, happy for them, but the way they build their program should not come at a deficit for ours."  

 

Always wanted to start a blog or a podcast as well, watching film and writing summaries is my hobby, but I am not sure I have the extra time for the getting it onto the internet piece.

14 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

AB will go down into history as a code word for certain candies.  ?  

 

Agreed that the author came across as a dick.  He said so himself, quoting the OL coach.   That’s pretty much what I meant when I read about 20 pages  “now that’s enough of that” and that I had to get through spots where the author regards himself as having superior competence and intelligence.  

 

Interesting that you saw it as a TMZ book.   Now that you mention it, I understand.  I didn’t worry about figuring out who was who as I guessed he merged characteristics of several players to make it harder, though the way he describes some of the guys would make me want to hunt Molk down and kick his butt if I were them.  That wasn’t what I focused on.

 

The interesting part to me was reading about the daily routine and the locker room and practice dynamics.  The description of the Haka dance during the players-only OL meeting cracked me up, and the struggle to get the coaches to pay attention to what the players were perceiving during the game read as very real.

Read Collison Low Crossers, you'll love it.  Ten times the book Anonymous is.

[blacklabel]

57 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Collison Low Crossers was was very very good.   Next Man Up was another good read about the on-goings inside a professional football operation.

 

If you're into X's and O's The Art of Smart Football is a good starter.   

 

My wife bought me Bill Belichick on Football for Christmas and that's been a nice read on how to put a team together.   A couple interesting quotes "You do anything you can to win within the confines of the rules, you dont want to pass the line where you're cheating."   Ironic considering, but brought to mind how often they use rub routes, which is clearly cheating.   The other brought to mind Joe Judge "You're always happy when someone on your staff gets an opportunity, but when their opportunity turns into you losing resources thats where the line is crossed.  Again, happy for them, but the way they build their program should not come at a deficit for ours."  

 

Always wanted to start a blog or a podcast as well, watching film and writing summaries is my hobby, but I am not sure I have the extra time for the getting it onto the internet piece.

 

 

Oh, good call, I forgot about that one. Yeah, Chris Brown is a super smart dude. 

 

And yeah, same here, just don't have the time to dedicate to a blog or something. I've had some ideas. I've kinda wanted to put together a draft blog that does simple player breakdowns. We're in this age of non-stop information and at times it's overwhelming. Plus, there are tons of analysts doing their thing out there so there's just like this information overload. I'd try to break things down in a short, concise manner, just like, "Here's what this guy does well..." and "Here's where he might need some work..." Super detailed scouting reports come off kinda weird to me. I mean, I know it's important for the coaches to know about a players body and things like that but the average fan probably isn't real concerned with that kind of stuff. 

[Bill from NYC]

Thanks to the OP and others for the recommendations. This is a great time of the year to have some extra books in the house.

[Jeff Lebowski]

OP, you raise a point about the "WR" whom you suspect is Shady. I got to thinking about him basically harassing Beasley in the preseason about being short, over and over again. I remember watching the video of him doing that and thinking that he was a douchebag. 

Let's for a moment assume it was really Shady. It kind of explains why Beane traded him and kept Gore.

I could be off base here, but I don't think it's a stretch. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 hours ago, blacklabel said:

I'd also recommend Collision Low Crossers by Nicholas Dawidoff. He spent the 2011 season with the Jets and gives an excellent behind the scenes look at everything that goes into a season. You get a lot of insight on ol' Rexy boy, and Pettine, who he had as his DC at the time. Rex would get real carried away with defensive play designs and Pettine would be the one to ground him, like, "OK, if we do that, how do we cover this?" You also get a look at how Rex was during games, seemed to think they always had an ace in the hole type of play they could run but he was always hesitant to call it. Maybe my favorite part is when Pettine and some of the other assistant coaches glued the lid of the peanut butter jar and then watched on the security cameras as Rex become increasingly frustrated that he couldn't get the jar open for his late night snack. Rex would put the jar down and say, "Whatever then, I don't need any g*ddamn peanut butter." But then a minute later he'd be trying to pry it open and swearing at it. Pretty fun. 

 

That's.  Hysterical.  ??

 

I've read "Slow Getting Up".   There were a couple of common themes there.  One was that the teams asked Jackson to convert to TE, and like Molk, Jackson's natural body frame struggled to keep on the weight he needed to play that position - and it didn't sound as though the team, at the time, gave him a lot of help with it.  The team also didn't give him a lot of good help truly rehabbing injuries.

 

Again, highlights the potential competitive advantage available to a team that can do a better job 1) making sure injuries are truly treated and rehabbed instead of just managed and damped down 2) helping the athletes manage their nutrition instead of just telling them "gain 20 lbs" "lose 20 lbs"

 

6 hours ago, blacklabel said:

And if you're looking to understand the X's and O's, I'd suggest the two Take Your Eye Off the Ball books by Pat Kirwan. He's also written a series called Go Deeper where he highlights a specific position. I believe he's only written one on QBs at this time and it's an e-book. Good stuff, though. He breaks things down in ways that are easy to understand. 

 

I'll look for Go Deeper.  I love Pat Kirwan's books.  I've purchased about 8 of his first "Take Your Eye Off the Ball" book at this point.  I can't keep them in the house.  Someone impugned my abilities as a librarian on this account, The Nerve ?   Seriously, I like turning people onto a more thoughtful approach football, I never made a big issue out of chasing them down and demanding them back. 

 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 hours ago, Jeff Lebowski said:

OP, you raise a point about the "WR" whom you suspect is Shady. I got to thinking about him basically harassing Beasley in the preseason about being short, over and over again. I remember watching the video of him doing that and thinking that he was a douchebag. 

Let's for a moment assume it was really Shady. It kind of explains why Beane traded him and kept Gore.

I could be off base here, but I don't think it's a stretch. 

 

In the book, the WR "Dante" is "so good the team built its entire offense around him". (the previous year)  But Molk talks a lot about successful running as key to their job as an OL.   In 2013, the Eagles had the #1 rushing attack in the country but only #9 passing attack, and they let their best WR DeSean Jackson walk in FA and replaced him with Jeremy Maclin (IR in 2013)  2013 was McCoy's best season with 1600 yds.  2014, 1300 yds.

 

It would make more sense to refer to Shady as the guy "so good (the Eagles) built their offense around him" than to talk about a WR who was released that spring or a WR who was on IR the previous year as "having the offense built around him".  Shady also fits in that "Dante" has a son and "a relationship with his mother - $75,000 a year (everyone laughs)" McCoy's son is a bit older than that.  Anyway, that's why I think Molk created amalgams of 2 or more players instead of a 1:1 TMZ style profile, but the WR Dante is described as kind of a womanizing jerk. 

 

There was a strange sound bite where after his rookie year, Allen was asked about McCoy and said "I don't have a problem with the guy, personally" - it was said very matter of fact but one interpretation of those words is "but some other guys do".  The skill players (all black) in Molk's book also all "go out to strip clubs every night".

 

It wouldn't be beyond belief to me that one reason McCoy got cut might be personality factors, for example that they wanted Singletary to model himself after family man Gore than strip-club womanizer McCoy in his off-field habits. 

[mannc]

I remember a few years back when Ross Tucker (former Bills OL) wrote an article for SI about the attitudes of some of the players he played with.  According to Tucker, there were numerous guys who hated football and couldn't wait for the season to be over.  I think he was writing about the 2004 Bills specifically (although he didn't name names).  That was the year the Bills lost to the Steelers' backups in the last game of the regular season, when a win would have put them in the playoffs.  Tucker talked about one veteran starter who treated Tucker like he was insane for wanting to win that game and get to the playoffs.  The guy had all his belongings driven to Pittsburgh in a trailer so he could bolt out of town as soon as they lost the game.  To me, this shows the value of a franchise seeking out high character "process" guys who actually love the game.  Coaching is absolutely huge in the NFL.   

Edited January 24, 2020 by mannc

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

Read Collison Low Crossers, you'll love it.  Ten times the book Anonymous is.

 

Since you recommend, I will strongly consider it.  I was kind of thinking that Enough of Rex Ryan was Enough for me, but it has been a few years.

Will check out The Art of Smart Football and Next Man Up.

[MJS]

Sounds like a losing culture, and if it was the Chip Kelly Eagles, that's exactly what it was. I bet there are plenty of teams in the NFL that are nothing like that. There are probably some that are worse.

 

I think it is safe to say the the Bills have a good locker room and culture and a lot of that BS doesn't happen. But we would be naive if we believe everything is perfect. I'm sure they have their own issues and every single team (in or out of sports) has at least one or two guys that are challenging to work with and put themselves above everyone else.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, MJS said:

Sounds like a losing culture, and if it was the Chip Kelly Eagles, that's exactly what it was.

 

Two successive years of 10-6, 10-6

 

Technically, can you have a losing culture if you're actually winning?

[MJS]

9 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Two successive years of 10-6, 10-6

 

Technically, can you have a losing culture if you're actually winning?

Yes, because eventually the bad culture corrodes everything in the organization. That's pretty much what happened there, in my opinion. They won initially because they had talent and new schemes, but eventually the bottom dropped out, and I think it was culture to blame.