Benny Friedman, the son of working class immigrants in Cleveland's Jewish ghetto, arrived at the University of Michigan and transformed the game of football forever. At the time, in the 1920s, football was a dull, grinding running game, and the forward pass was a desperation measure. Benny would change all of that. In Ann Arbor, the rookie quarterback's passing abilities so eclipsed those of other players that legendary coach Fielding Yost came back from retirement to coach him. The other college teams had no answer for Friedman's passing attack. He then went pro -- an unpopular decision at a time when the NFL was the poor stepchild to college football -- and was equally sensational, eventually signing with the New York Giants for an unprecedented 10,000, bringing fans and attention to the fledgling NFL. Passing Game rediscovers this little-known sports hero and tells the story of Friedman's evolution from upstart to American celebrity, in a vivid narrative that will delight and enlighten football fans of all ages.

To effectively overcome the problems presented by modern defenses, a complete passing game must possess both diversity and learnability. Concept Passing: Teaching the Modern Passing Game combines these two characteristics. Chapters include: Defining Concept-Based Passing, Formations and Personnel Groupings, Passing Game Terminology, Protection Schemes, The Drag Concept, The Vertical Concept, The Two-Man Game Concept, The Quick Concept, The Corner Concept, The Horizontal Concept, The Numbers Concept, The Three-Level Concept, The Object Concept, and Application of Pass Concepts.

Two once promising actors plot to kill each other's wives.

Sid Gillman, unlike so many of his coaching colleagues, never wrote a book about himself. He never published his own ideas about the game and why he thought passing the ball in an age where most quarterbacks handed off to running backs was the key to his success. In more than four decades of coaching, nobody thought it necessary to tell the definitive Sid Gillman story. Until now. Gillman was a true innovator. The kind of football genius that goes overlooked by today's average fan, but who will never be forgotten by the coaches he directly - and indirectly - impacted. What NFL fans watch today in ever-increasing numbers (and the high-flying offenses those fans love) can be directly traced back to the Midwestern coach who was a forerunner to the West Coast offense. That's why if you watched the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, you couldsee the scope of Gillman's reach. In order to truly understand the reason why football offenses are so exciting today, learning about Gillman is absolutely essential. Katzowitz takes you on that journey.

An “excellent sports history” (Publishers Weekly) in the tradition of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, award-winning historian S.C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how two unknown coaches revolutionized American football at every level, from high school to the NFL. Hal Mumme spent fourteen mostly losing seasons coaching football before inventing a potent passing offense that would soon shock players, delight fans, and terrify opposing coaches. It all began at a tiny, overlooked college called Iowa Wesleyan, where Mumme was head coach and Mike Leach, a lawyer who had never played college football, was hired as his offensive line coach. In the cornfields of Iowa these two mad inventors, drawn together by a shared disregard for conventionalism and a love for Jimmy Buffett, began to engineer the purest, most extreme passing game in the 145-year history of football. Implementing their “Air Raid” offense, their teams—at Iowa Wesleyan and later at Valdosta State and the University of Kentucky—played blazingly fast—faster than any team ever had before, and they routinely beat teams with far more talented athletes. And Mumme and Leach did it all without even a playbook. “A superb treat for all gridiron fans” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), The Perfect Pass S.C. Gwynne explores Mumme’s leading role in changing football from a run-dominated sport to a pass-dominated one, the game that tens of millions of Americans now watch every fall weekend. Whether you’re a casual or ravenous football fan, this is “a rousing tale of innovation” (Booklist), and “Gwynne’s book ably relates the story of that innovation and the successes of the man who devised it” (New York Journal of Books).

Tony Kushner’s award-winning epic play Angels in America was remarkable not only for its sensitive engagement of Jewish-American and gay culture but also for bringing these themes to a mainstream audience. While the play represented a watershed in American theater and culture, it belies a hundred years of previous attention to queer Jewish identity in twentieth-century American literature, drama, and film. In The Passing Game, Warren Hoffman sheds light on this long history, taking up both Yiddish and English narratives that explore the tensions among Jewish identity, queer sexuality, performance, and American citizenship. With fresh insight Hoffman examines the 1907 Yiddish play God of Vengeance by Sholem Asch, the cross-dressing films of Yiddish actress Molly Picon, and several short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. He also analyzes the English-language novels The Rise of David Levinsky (Abraham Cahan), Wasteland (Jo Sinclair), and Portnoy’s Complaint (Phillip Roth). Hoffman highlights the ways in which the characters in these canonical texts attempt to "pass" as white, straight, and American in the early and mid-twentieth century. This pioneering work is a welcome contribution to the study of Jewish American literature and culture.

Packed with hundreds of game-winning plays, drills, & coaching guidelines, this complete Air Option strategy offers coaches everything needed to develop a quick-thinking, aggressive pass offense that consistently penetrates tough defenses.

Football is evolving rapidly. Defenses are accelerating their ability to adapt to the no-huddle tempo, the full-field passing attack, and RPO advancements of the modern Offensive passing game. The Offense must adapt or get left behind. Fortunately, the R4 System continually advances, making an already proven equalizer the decisive weapon to fast-track Offensive adaptability against the modern warfare of Defense. Dub Maddox picks up where he left off with “Headset to Helmet.” In “Adapt or Die,” he provides an R4 field manual for coaches and players that provides fundamental tools to improve timing and space creation. Then he reveals how to implement new R4 scheme strategies that drive adaptability through simplicity. In this book you will learn how to: · Maximize drop-time advantages with a “toolbox” of quarterback under-center and shotgun drop · Increase route-side space advantage with a “toolbox” of wide receiver releases · Apply and execute specific route techniques for the Rhythm, Read, Rush and Release families · Reduce the number of concepts carried into the game by creating plays within a pass play · Apply progression platforms that accelerate adaptability for any concept · Implement the R4 route rules to maintain a full-field attack on any given pass play · Advance R.P.O. concepts with route attachment progressions

Headset to Helmet ‑ the groundbreaking book for the R4 System ­- explores a revolutionary approach to coaching quarterbacks by providing a unique perspective that allows the coach to see the game through the QB's eyes. The R4 System serves as a powerful communication tool, simplifying the intricate variables involved in quarterback decision-making, from coverage recognition to throw placement in hostile spaces. This innovative operating platform is hailed as the most effective solution for simplifying complex passing game structures, offering easy-to-understand logic and common-sense principles. Dive into this expert system to transform your understanding of pass play design, reduce installation confusion, and empower quarterbacks to "Self-Correct Not Self-Destruct" under pressure. In this book you will learn 4-word process that will: · Guide every decision a quarterback makes for every pass play in your existing scheme. · Reduce the burden on pass protection. · Discipline quarterback footwork once and for all. · Increase the sense of urgency for every receiver in a route package. · Significantly reduce “if-thens” for every pass play. · Generate manageable “full field” quarterback reads post snap. That’s just a sample of what the R4 System will do for your offense.