More Than a Football Book
How Football Got It Wrong explores how more than a century of rule changes, coaching philosophies, economics, and incentives quietly transformed America's favorite sport into a very different game.
About The Book
How Football Got It Wrong
What do Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi, Herschel Walker, Joe Montana, Lynn Swann, Ernie Stautner, Chuck Bednarik, Art Donovan, Bill Walsh, Larry Allen, Tony Siragusa, Darryl Stingley, Jack Tatum, and dozens of football's greatest legends have in common?
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They all help tell the story of how America's greatest game slowly became a very different game.
How Football Got It Wrong isn't another collection of football stories. It is a fascinating investigation into one of the biggest unanswered questions in sports:
If football has never been more popular, why has it never been more dangerous?
Author Terry Morgan takes readers on a journey through more than 120 years of football history—from Teddy Roosevelt's intervention to today's NFL—examining the decisions, rule changes, coaching philosophies, television contracts, economics, specialization, player size, and incentives that unintentionally transformed football into a game built around bigger collisions and greater risk.
Along the way, you'll discover the stories and insights surrounding some of the most recognizable names in football history, including:
Vince Lombardi
Tom Landry
Joe Montana
Lynn Swann
Herschel Walker
Ernie Stautner
Art Donovan
Chuck Bednarik
Bill Walsh
Larry Allen
Tony Siragusa
Darryl Stingley
Jack Tatum
Otto Graham
Robert Neyland
Frank Leahy
And many more.
Rather than blaming players, coaches, or the NFL, How Football Got It Wrong asks a much deeper question:
Did football evolve exactly as it was designed to?
The answers are surprising.
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Through historical research, documented evidence, interviews, photographs, and stories from football's greatest personalities, Terry Morgan challenges conventional wisdom and reveals how incentives—not intentions—reshaped the sport over the last century.
Whether you're a lifelong football fan, coach, parent, former player, sports historian, or simply someone who loves great investigative storytelling, this book will forever change the way you watch a football game.
You'll Never Watch Football the Same Way Again.
When you finish the final chapter, you'll understand why the game changed, how it happened, and what can be done to make football safer without losing the excitement that made America fall in love with it.
The body didn't change. The game did.
