"Going Deep" is the fun and strange story of how the forward pass saved football, then begat a cultural revolution in sports and television that took the nation's leisurely Sundays and turned them into a pagan holiday known as Gameday. A veteran sportswriter with numerous books to his credit, Roland Lazenby interviewed many of the all-time greats, from Slingin' Sammy Baugh to Steve Young and Peyton Manning, to trace the evolution of the forward pass. The early days of football were a time of sanctioned gore, thanks to the deadly flying wedge. After a shocking twenty-four deaths in 1905, changes to the rules in 1906 brought the first fledgling attempts at passing the football. Coaches hated the innovation, but it slowly found its way into the game, thanks to players like Don Hutson, who did wondrous things for the Green Bay Packers as a receiver; Slingin' Sammy Baugh, the first of the truly big-time quarterbacks; and Otto Graham, who ran Paul Brown's passing game in Cleveland. Johnny Unitas then set the entire sports world spinning with the adrenaline rush of his comeback wizardry.
The passing game redefined the NFL, making possible Joe Namath and the 4,000-yard season, the AFL, and then the high-tech offenses and wide-open format of the modern NFL. Unitas to Berry, Montana to Rice, Culpepper to Moss - just mention the names of the great passing combinations and passion stirs in the football fan. Without the evolution of the forward pass, football would not be nearly as popular as it is today. "Going Deep" pays tribute to the powerful men and minds that fashioned this uniquely American fascination.
- ISBN10 1597970433
- ISBN13 9781597970433
- Publish Date 14 November 2007
- Publish Status Cancelled
- Out of Print 16 January 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Potomac Books Inc
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English