Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

by user MikeBriggs

The author of Moneyball, Michael Lewis, returns with another sports book, this time focused on football (the USA version of the word). Lewis tracks the changing nature of the NFL, and the changing importance of certain positions. As time advanced the manner in which the game is played evolved, lead by the strategists (as opposed to the brute force school), mainly Bill Walsh. The strategists pushed an offensive system that used a more organized systematic method of offensive production (a more "chess board" approach) that increased the average yards per pass, increased the total number of passes, relative to total and to percentage of plays vs. run plays, and, oddly enough also increased the completion rate at the same time. This new method, which has been called by some the "West Coast Offense", coupled with a new player/management system that allowed free agency, drove one particular position to the forefront.

In the past everyone that played on the offensive line believed himself (as indicated in the book) to be playing a position that was non-individualistic (more team-focused), and interchangeable (play Center, Guard, Tackle, left-right did not matter). Adding in the lack of measurable production numbers, the pay for players on the offensive line reflected this "throw any body in there" mentality. Then things began to change, both with an offensive system that advanced the use of the pass to the point where it became much more feasible to stress the pass over the run and win games, and with advent of the counter to this system. The advanced pass system opened up a new realm of offensive production, but also opened up the quarterback to danger. Why? Because the blockers who would normally be back for the run, are forward as potential targets for a pass (not specifically the same players). This allowed players like Lawrence Taylor to run forward and clobber the QB (though, he likely would have been able to do so anyway, there were just fewer people between him and the quarterback after the change in offensive systems). The position pushed to the forefront by the changes in the game? Left tackle. Why left tackle as opposed to any other position on the field, like say right tackle? Because the left tackle guarded the quarterback's blind side (right-handed quarterback, and most are right-handed). While the system was in transition, most salaries remained the same for offensive linemen, while an increasing number of quarterbacks became injured, sometimes with career injuries. Then free agency came about, and everyone awaited the avalanche of money to fall on quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Oddly enough, a good portion of this free agent money, though, went to left tackles. GM's realized that they needed a great left tackle to protect their quarterback, and without one, even the best quarterback will have lower production.

This realization flowed down to the college level, and somewhat down to the high school level. Especially down to one particular kid by the name of Michael Oher. Oher was a gigantic black kid from the poorest area of Memphis when he joined a private high school and began his rise up the social-economic ladder.

Lewis' book examines this change in the NFL system, while spending the majority of his time following the career of Michael Oher up to the present (2006) as a sophomore in college. The sections with information about the changes in the football world are intermixed with sections on the life of Michael Oher (includes: life in a very poor section of Memphis, introduction to a private high school and figurative, then literal adoption by two rich white people, the transformation of a young man from having an IQ of 80 to roughly having an IQ of 110, and advancement from high school to college football).

I enjoy sports, including football, but am most familiar with the inner-workings of baseball. I tended to follow the same fan path as noted in Lewis' book in which most football fans follow the ball, and pay less attention to the other action on the field that is sometimes more important in moving the ball (like the offensive line-defense battle). This particular book provided me with a great deal of insight into an area of the football field that I had never really considered, and never really understood.

Layout/Structure: A nonfiction book without graphs, charts, or pictures that is a combination biography of Michael Oher and an examination of the NFL from the late 1970s to today.

Note: Review appears on at least two other websites (written by me, posted by me).