Additional information
by Doug Farrar (Author), Louis Riddick (Foreword by)
If necessity has been the mother of invention throughout the history of professional football, it could also be said that desperation is the father. Rare are the football innovations that have occurred without an owner, general manager, coach, or player up against the wall and reaching for a way to succeed anyway. In this meticulously researched, lively book, Bleacher Report lead NFL scout Doug Farrar traces the schematic history of the pro game through these "if this/then that" moments--paradigm shifts in the game from 1920 through the present. More than just a book about schemes and strategies, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL also tells the stories of the game's most prominent innovators, the adversities they endured, and the ways in which they learned to exceed their own expectations on the path to true greatness. Everyone from George Halas to Greasy Neale, Paul Brown to Sid Gillman, Bill Walsh to Chip Kelly is featured, as well as many more.
Author Biography
Doug Farrar is a Seattle-based journalist who has written about football for Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, Football Outsiders, The Washington Post, and other outlets during the last 15 years. This is his first book.
After playing seven years in the NFL and spending more than a decade in NFL front offices, Louis Riddick works as an NFL analyst for ESPN. He resides in Bristol, Connecticut.
