Reddit mentions of Take Your Eye Off the Ball: Playbook Edition with DVD

Take Your Eye off the Ball by Pat Kirwan

Take your Eye Off the Ball is an excellent read that can help explain some of the more subtle things about football.

A good intro to understanding the game of football is Pat Kirwan's book, Take Your Eye Off The Ball.

Take his notes on the origins of zone blocking with a grain of salt, though.

NFL Game Rewind is also a fantastic resource, giving fans the ability to watch the same kind of film coaches do.

This book.

My wife bought me Take Your Eye Off the Ball, which does an excellent job of teaching you how to watch the game, but I found it to be a little heavy on jargon for a novice. You can get it but you probably won't understand everything you're reading the first time through. Still, you'll likely learn a lot -- why a CB steers his WR to an inside or outside release, how to tell if it's a run or pass play by watching the O-Line, etc.

You might want to start by reading the Wikipedia article called American Football Strategy and following the links several clicks deep.

To make it a little less boring, you can watch the pre-season games with a notepad in your hands. Write down any term you don't know (and the context) and look it up during the commercial. So for instance you might write "Ray Rice running off tackle" or "Zone blocking linemen don't like new rules - why?"

take you're eye off the ball by pat kirwin

Came here to recommend Take Your Eye Off The Ball which is ridiculously thorough.

This version even includes a DVD.

It's $10. Definitely worth it.

This is a good book for an intro.

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/B0078XOX3C

I see this one recommended often in these threads. I have yet to pick it up myself, though.