Book Review

I'd been eyeing Nicholas Dawidoff's Collision Low Crossers since it's release last November. I saw it on the shelves of one of the few bookstores left in this land. I've really enjoyed football books such as this. Books from an author that has spent a year with an NFL team. Roy Blount Jr. did this with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the early 1970s in About Three Bricks Shy of a Load. John Feinstein did this more recently with the Baltimore Ravens in Next Man Up. Dawidoff does it here with the New York Jets during the 2011 season.

First of all, Nicholas Dawidoff is a terrific writer. I enjoy a lot of football books simply because of the subject matter. The writing is often secondary. When the writing does the football justice you've got quite a book. Collision Low Crossers is quite a book. One of the best football books that I've read. Right there with David Maraniss' classic When Pride Still Mattered about Vince Lombardi. Dawidoff's emersion into the day-to-day workings of the 2011 New York Jets is complete. It's so complete that he even takes part in the interview process at the Scouting Combine. He's in the coaches meetings. He even calls the defense for a play in a Jets preseason game. He's in the press box with the coaches for most of the games. He's on the sideline for several of the games at the end of the season. In passing, you'd think that he was one of the coaches. Only smaller. Perhaps a trainer. He's accepted and even embraced by the coaches. A very tall order in the exclusive NFL.

Dawidoff spends most of his year with the Jets with the defensive coaches. He gets to know them best. The defensive side of the ball was the strength of that Jets team. The defensive coaches were also loaded with entertaining personalities. It helped that Rex Ryan is the head coach. A defensive guy that hired "his guys." Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, secondary coach Dennis Thurman, line coach Mark Carrier, linebacker coaches Bob Sutton and Mike Smith. A fun staff led by a fun head coach.

There was a lot of drama around the New York Jets in 2011. They had an excellent defense. They had a stumbling offense. An offense that paled so much in comparison to the defense that there was building animosity throughout the season. An offense led by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and franchise quarterback-wannabe Mark Sanchez. In 2011, the Jets were coming off consecutive AFC Championship game appearances. Expectations were sky-high for the team. The 2011 offseason was the offseason of the ridiculous lockout. A several month fiasco. No one knew what was happening. The coaches couldn't talk to, let alone work with, the players. The coaches had so much time and excruciatingly little to do. When the lockout was finally settled, the New York Jets could never grasp the magic that was so present the two years before. The offense was a mess and the defense couldn't save the day every day.

Nicholas Dawidoff couldn't have picked a more unique season to focus a microscope on an NFL team. Hopefully, there will never be a repeat of that ridiculous lockout. If nothing else, the lockout provided for Dawidoff an opportunity to better know the coaches that would become a part of his life. The lockout might have hindered the football but it may have enhanced the story. Collision Low Crossers is a fun, entertaining read. One so rich that I'll turn to it again. And again.