Brian Billick

Brian Billick was the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens for nine years and his team won Super Bowl XXXV thanks mostly to its great defense. Prior to that he was the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, at the time one of the most prolific offenses in league history.

Having stepped away from the game for a while Billick has written a nice little monograph on today’s game. This is not a biography of Billick or the inside scoop of what it’s like to be a head coach in the National Football League, although a little bit of that is in here. Instead is a topical “conversation” about issues facing the National Football League today.

Billick does a nice job explaining some of the modern day offensive and defensive schemes proliferating around the NFL and gives a nice synopsis of the progression of the now pass oriented game of professional football and how that has changed the modern game. He also briefly discusses the “wildcat” offense where the running back takes the snap directly and can either pass or throw the ball. Billick does not think the “wildcat” offense will be around too long as defenses are likely to catch up with it.

The most concerning part of the book is where Billick discusses the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the player’s union. If an agreement is not reached there could be a lock out and no football in the near future. Hopefully it will not come to that as professional football has been able to avoid the damaging play stoppage that has plagued other leagues, most notably the National Hockey League, which has yet to recover from its lost season.
There are many other tidbits of football knowledge in this book and it is well worth a read by fans of the National Football League.

… (altro)

A fabulous and current read about the NFL. While there have been other books written in this vein, Billick's is unique in that it's current and written in a year where he's almost immediately removed from his coaching gig. It was also current enough to include important off season changes and situations, ie.e Lynch's gun issues. The book also went in depth into the game's history to touch on things such as situations - what would Archie Manning have been like if he played with teams that were as good as his sons? Billick touched on his background as HC with the Ravens and OC for the Vikings (especially relevant with the Vikings success here in 2009) to write a book that drew the fans into questions they may or may not have otherwise realized. He also touched on combine situations and drafting questions without getting deep into territory of other books that focus there, such as The Draft. A great read for all levels of football fan.… (altro)