Reddit mentions of Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look

For how to appreciate the game more, Take Your Eye Off The Ball.

For a great narrative from a player's perspective, Slow Getting Up.

Here's a good book called "Keep Your Eye Off The Ball." It's always raved about here on /r/nfl, and it pretty much teaches you how to watch football properly.

It's definitely not for beginners. I've given up on the book in several parts as I'm still a relatively new fan, but what I have got from it is great.

Read 'Take Your Eye off the Ball' by Pat Kirwan. Its AWESOME!

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406482909&sr=1-1&keywords=take+your+eye+off+the+ball

Teaches you a lot.

Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look

"Take Your Eye Off the Ball"

Worth the price.

Take Your Eye Off the Ball by Pat Kirwin is one of the best football books money can buy

Used copy on Amazon can be had for a few bucks

Welcome to the best fanbase in football!

1. I really enjoyed the book Take Your Eye Off the Ball, sounds like what you're looking for.
   
2. This subreddit and Buffalo Rumblings are my go-tos. I also like to listen to WGR 550 (Buffalo's sports talk station) when I get the chance.
   
3. Need a little more clarification here - what do you mean by "keep an eye on"? Probably the biggest question a lot of fans have right now is what we're going to do at quarterback this offseason - will Tyrod start next year? Will we draft someone and/or sign a free agent QB, and if so, who? Etc.
   
4. For getting a feel for the team, watch the "Four Falls of Buffalo" documentary produced by ESPN. It's about Buffalo's famous four consecutive trips to the Super Bowl in the early 90's. As for specific games, The Comeback is one very famous example; others will have more suggestions I'm sure.
   
   Go Bills!

I usually find this Wikipedia article very helpful. Your English is excellent so I don't think you need to worry about finding a translation. Scroll down to "offensive formations" and the sections on "running plays" and "passing plays" to understand the terminology and how to understand what you're seeing. The great part about that is that if you then search for those plays on YouTube you can find video of the play working well.

I also like to recommend Take Your Eye Off the Ball to new fans interested in Xs and Os. It's an excellent book about how to watch football and understand what's happening -- it explains how an offensive formation is like a "bid" or "bet" in cards, and the defense's formation is a reaction to that bid, and how either side might be bluffing. It goes into excellent detail about almost every aspect of the game.

Give this article a read as well. Chris Brown helps the reader understand the fundamental shift in the current defensive era, which I think will really help you understand what (for example) the Seahawks do on defense. If you like Brown's work, he has also published this book of essays (edited and expanded from his blog) which explain many of the strategic and tactical nuances of the modern game of football in a style similar to what you see in the above article.

Take your eye off the ball

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.ca/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910&ved=0ahUKEwjv-NjDrYzVAhUU12MKHdsHBWYQFghkMAo&usg=AFQjCNHaxkn39qoocGE1lxW3XHIpPF5k6Q

I think there's one called "Get your eye off the ball". Not sure if it's the right title.

Edit: http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Here's a book I recommend for anyone wanting to learn the strategy behind football. It's called "Take Your Eye Off the Ball" written by Pat Kirwan with a foreword by Pete Carroll and Bill Cowher

It's on Amazon for $2.12 used - Can't beat that.

Una amiga viaja a NY y me va a traer estas dos bellezas:
Take Your Eye Off the Ball y The Essential Smart Football así que voy a tener para hacerme una panzada!.

Por otro lado, mañana PARTIDASO de la NBA, Boston vs. Golden State, no puede fallar.

Finalmente, este fin de semana hay PPV de lucha libre y no puedo estar más hypeado, hace tiempo que no venía tan manija y encima cierra todo con un lunes feriado, fiesta loca. Ah y WARGAMEEEEEEEES BAYBEH.

Perdonen que vengo atrasado con el post, pero estoy con tanto laburo que se me re pasó, mil gracias /u/blackfinwe !

This book was pretty helpful. It isn’t too long and it’s not a bad read. It breaks down the basics of formations and play types. It helps you understand and figure out a teams game plan while you’re watching the game. I haven’t read it in a while so I don’t remember everything it gets into but you see the game differently after you read it. Definitely doesn’t get into everything but it’s a pretty good start.

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=nodl_

Pat Kirwan's "Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look" helped me out a ton. It's NFL-focused, and not defense-specific, but the concepts translate. I adored this book. It's absolutely worth every cent.

Take Your Eye Off The Ball is another good one. It is focused on the NFL though. Written by Pat Kirwan, a former coach and scout.

Most of these are analytical:

Take your eyes of the ball by Pat Kirwan.


The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays by Ron Jaworski

War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team by Michael Holley


The Art of Smart Football by Chris B. Brown

https://www.amazon.ca/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1600783910/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ese5Cb4H8GXDW

Great book that explains this (and a lot more) in detail for the layperson. Go to the "Look Inside" deal and see page 31, he breaks down/diagrams out a call and shows how the pattern works.

Buy some football books, start reading websites that cover strategy like Smart Football and what has helped me is that I have games from last year recorded and I'll just watch one position or maybe a few and see what they do on every play (helps with patterns and technique, therefore possible plays). Also what you can do is document football plays as you watch, as explained in Take Your Eye Off the Ball and you start noticing patterns and plays better. That is a start.

Piggybacking to provide Amazon links:

• The Essential Smart Football by Chris B. Brown
  
  
• Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look by Pat Kirwan
  
  
• Football Scouting Methods by Steve Belichick
  
  
• The Games That Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays by Ron Jaworski
  
  ...and also to add a couple of homer suggestions of my own:
  
  
• Brady vs Manning: The Untold Story of the Rivalry That Transformed the NFL by Gary Myers
  
  
• Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time by Ian O'Connor

"Take Your Eye Off The Ball" by Pat Kirwan is exactly what you are looking for. On Amazon used for $11.

*Sorry this is a mobile link so might not work.

I am gonna pick this up.

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Not OP but here's a great resource if you're looking for a deeper understanding.

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Get a book by Pat Kirwan called take your eyes off the ball:

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Take your eye of the ball Quick read. Good explanation of everything related to the NFL that the common fan probably doesn't know.

Education of a Coach a Biography of Bill Belichick. Really good but a little out of date now. Still it's current up till 2004 or so and most of BB's life took place before that.

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

This book is a great resource. The dude knows the game.

Playing MAdden is okay, but I find it hard to believe nobody has suggested actually reading a book other than the rule book.
Check these out:
Take your Eye off the Ball

Blood, Sweat, and Chalk

The Essential Smart Football
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1470125595?pc_redir=1408853370&robot_redir=1

And Take Your Eye off The Ball are must reads.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1600783910?pc_redir=1408944148&robot_redir=1

a great book by Pat Kirwin: ["Keep Your Eye off the Ball"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347921117&sr=8-1&keywords=keep+your+eye+off)

Stop watching the ball. But seriously though, I have some pretty successful sports writer friends who have a deeper knowledge of football than I ever will and that's the biggest piece of advice they give me. That book is pretty good, but to be honest, I still slip back into watching the ball and wonder why we don't call the "throw a touchdown play" more often.

Also, welcome to the journalism brotherhood. I cover politics, not sports, so hit me up should you need any advice on understanding the farm bill.

Edited for a typo that drove me crazy.

This book helped me a lot

Hey, I really recommend Pat Kirwan's book if you want to really get a good primer on how to watch and understand football.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

Take Your Eye Off The Ball is a great place to start!

[Take your eye off the ball] (http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910) by Pat Kirwan is exactly what you're looking for

Take Your Eye off the ball: How to watch football by knowing where to look

The more you watch the more you'll be able to see things out of your peripheral vision. Like when playing a video game you're shooting at someone while also looking at the radar at the same time.

Also if you're interested this book is really good: http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/

If you're looking to spend some money you can buy this book, but if you hang out around here long enough most of it will be covered at some point; it does organize everything though.

Like Wham said, it takes time/studying, but a lot of it is just terminology; "Cover" formations is, for the most part, just the number of safeties providing help over the top of the CBs to protect against the deep ball.

Even after you know what to look for, it can be baffling in real time.

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536188603&sr=8-2&keywords=take+your+eye+off+the+ball&dpID=51ObJ6UtyzL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

I haven't found any channels that do a good job of starting with the basics, but this book does a great job. It's an easy read, starts with the basics and goes into great detail

I picked up this book myself and found it super interesting:

Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look

Definitely helped me understand not just the game on the field but also things around it, like drafts and contracts.

I read the Blind Side too which was a strong read but my personal favorite was the one that Pat Kirwin (you can listen to him on Sirius NFL radio) put out last year. It's called Take Your Eye Off the Ball . It doesn't have as much history as it does strategies and coach/GM speak. A very good read though.

Some good suggestions in here.

To add: Check out this book, Take Your Eye Off the Ball by Pat Kirwan. It's got a great breakdown for how to watch/analyze football when you're ready to go beyond just watching the QB, RB, and WRs.

As I Canadian who moved to Austin for grad school and learned to love football, I sympathize with the need to find something that covers the basics!

Here's a site I linked to below that covers some basics:
http://footballoutsiders.com/strategy-minicamps?page=2
... but even that might be too advanced.

If you're looking for complete basics, you might be better off with a book.
Take Your Eye Off the Ball is quite helpful for this, as it covers the basics of all the different positions and it gets into formations and a bit of strategy.:
http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320168296&sr=8-1

Football for Dummies is even more basic, but it can be a good guide for the beginner:
http://www.amazon.com/Football-Dummies-USA-Sports-Hobbies/dp/1118012615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320168316&sr=8-1

Chris Brown's Smart Football blog is pretty good. I also got a lot of mileage out of Take Your Eye Off The Ball and Blood, Sweat, and Chalk.

A book called 'take your eye off the ball' is suppose to be good for learning the x's and o's. It's suppose to help get a grasp of formations and the chess match of the game.
Edit: link to Amazon and words.

First, there is a lot more to football than what is happening after the ball is snapped. Take your eye off the ball.

Also, the replays are not superfluous. So much is happening on the field at once that it is almost impossible to see everything. OK, the RB just ran for 20 yards. Why did that happen. On the replay you can see how the defense was in man coverage and was pulled away from the run by the receivers, and how the guards pulled to deliver great blocks - or whatever the case may be.

Commercials are annoying, but I am rarely bored while the play clock is rolling.

Football is really really complicated, you're never going to learn the technique related stuff (how to release from press as a WR, how to chain moves together as a pass rusher) without playing yourself

Learning general knowledge stuff like formations and pre-snap reads for an offense/defense read "Take your eyes off the ball"

I try to usually watch the defense on any given play, usually the linebackers since you can't see much of the secondary (on TV). I recommend the following book:

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2N5XD87VH8WX4&coliid=I3DLWTK0HRQ6BQ

Get this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

It is maybe 2-3 years out of date with the player names, but it will give you a good primer on what teams are looking to do, how they plan on doing it, and the back and forth between each coach as they try to decipher each others tendencies and play calls.

Pat Kirwan's "Take Your Eye Off the Ball"

Here is an excellent book to learn all the basics and some advanced stuff about football.

Take Your Eye Off the Ball

If you like reading, this is a great book for people like you and still good for any NFL fan. I enjoyed it even though I read it at 30 years old and I've been watching football since I was 3.

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2WF70MTV1EPJN&keywords=take+your+eye+off+the+ball&qid=1571011683&sprefix=take+your+eye+of%2Caps%2C208&sr=8-2

Check out Matt Bowen's Football 101 stuff from when he was with Bleacher Report:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2007958-nfl-101-the-basics-of-the-3-4-defensive-front

He's really good at explaining everything.

There are also some books that have been recommended quite a few times on this sub, like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

LOL

I started playing because I discovered the joy of football and wanted to get into it, and I figured fantasy would be a great way to learn about the sport/players/teams. It is. I've only been watching football for real for 3 full seasons, and I already know a lot about the sport. Obviously not compared to most or /r/nfl, but more than most people. So I'd say just jump right in.

One thing that was helpful during my first season was watching games with my roommate who knows a ton about football. We actually had free NFL Sunday Ticket at our place (for some reason, our landlord could add a second house onto his subscription? no idea but we didn't press the issue), so we'd sit there all Sunday and he'd explain things to me.

I've heard this book is great for learning more but I haven't gotten around to it.

Oh, also, when I first got into football (end of 2011 season), my friend played Madden with me and would explain things. That helped a ton. Before that I didn't really understand football. I knew about downs and stuff but nothing about the strategy, so playing Madden was really what made it click and that's when I fell in love with football. Actually, I just decided I'm going to pick up an Xbox so I can start playing Madden for real to get deeper into knowledge of routes and strategy, I feel like I've hit a wall based on what I learn watching games and reading about the game. I'm a girl so I never played football growing up except for just fucking around.

3 years later, I "have a football problem" according to my friends. And it's kind of crazy how much I've picked up in a short amount of time, but mostly that is because of fantasy.

http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

buy Pat kirwans book - it will help you understand the sport better:
http://www.amazon.com/Take-Your-Eye-Off-Ball/dp/1600783910

It is possible to play the game, sure, but you will need to understand how offenses and defenses operate to really enjoy it, unless you play it on easy.

looks like someone's read Pat Kirwan's book-- totally recommend it to everyone who's into the game.

First, look on YouTube for basic info. You can find videos about positions and plays and even schemes like the spread pretty easily.

Second, I recommend looking up some film breakdowns. Bill Belichick does them weekly (I think it's weekly) on a local Boston channel, but you can find some of them on YouTube by searching for Belichick Breakdown.

Third, try to find some guides for how to watch football and how to breakdown a game. Articles like this can provide you with a greater understanding of what everyone is doing during a play.

Fourth, do some reading.

I highly recommend Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look to help you while watching the game, but be sure to get the paperback version so you get all the diagrams. It will teach you the progression of the reads, the route running, the blocking and everything that happens on defense as well.

To help you cut through some of the jargon announcers use, I recomment Blood, Sweat and Chalk: The Ultimate Football Playbook.

If you want to learn more about strategies, try The Essential Smart Football.

To learn more about evaluating players, Football Scouting Methods is a must read. It will take you to the football of another era, but with the foundation from all the other info I've provided you will be able to start putting the pyramid together and learn how the game became what it was today.

This book will lay it all out for you quite well

I recommend reading this if you really want to understand the game. It puts perspective on a whole 'nother level.