The Winning Secrets of Football's Great Offensive Attacks / Make the Most of Available Personnel with Football's Modern Flexing Offense (2 Volumes)

Rating:
Summary: order ID#0012245257-4902633
Review: Dear Sachin, I recieved the second order. It is still not correct. I still have not recieved the 2nd volume of the 2 volume set. I am still missing the book entitled "Make the Most of Available Personnel with Football's Modern Flexing Offense". I instead recieved another copy of "The Winning Secrets of Football's Great Offensive Attacks". I will return the 2nd copy this week. PLease send the correct 2nd volume A.S.A.P. Thank You, Frank Lenti

Rating:
Summary: order ID#0012245257-4902633
Review: Dear Sachin, I recieved the second order. It is still not correct. I still have not recieved the 2nd volume of the 2 volume set. I am still missing the book entitled "Make the Most of Available Personnel with Football's Modern Flexing Offense". I instead recieved another copy of "The Winning Secrets of Football's Great Offensive Attacks". I will return the 2nd copy this week. PLease send the correct 2nd volume A.S.A.P. Thank You, Frank Lenti

Rating:
Summary: Buy one or the other, not both
Review: I really wanted to like these books. Despite the hassles of ordering the two books by Ken Lyons and receiving only one of them (not once, but twice), I persevered and finally wound up with the two-volume set at the advertised price. And here is what I found:

I) "Winning Secrets of Football's Great Offensive Attacks": Similar in concept, if not scope or chronology, to Dwight "Dee" Hawkes' "Football's Best Offensive Playbook", this volume is an attempt to synthesize all offensive schemes since 1912 into a single volume, highlighting the best plays from each. It is a masterly attempt, and if it fails in its task, it does so by a very narrow margin (a few too many mistakes and mis-characterizations, to be expected in such a massive undertaking). What it DOES offer, however, is the single best football bibliography I have ever seen -- books, magazine articles, clinic notes and handouts -- Coach Lyons has collected an enormous wealth of football resources in his bibliography, which to me would alone justify buying this book.

II) "Make The Most of Available Personnel With Football's Modern F-L-E-X-I-N-G Offense": Hands-down winner of the most A-N-N-O-Y-I-N-G title award for a football book -- ever. Once inside the book, I'm afraid Coach Lyons fails to establish his thesis -- why his "multiflex" I formation attack makes better use of available personnel than any other offensive system. Beyond that, it is a competently-written description of an offense which takes 9 runs and 9 passes and presents them from multiple, shifting formations with the intent of confusing the defense. While entirely sound, this is hardly revolutionary stuff. I believe a high school coach looking for an offense to run could make a more than creditable start by purchasing Coach Lyons' book -- but I could say the same and more about roughly 20 other offensive guides...