Behind the Lines: A Veteran Quarterback's Look Inside the NFL

by Don Strock, Harvey Frommer, Dan Marino (Introduction)

An NFL veteran shares his memories of life as a football player, and discusses his many colleagues and issues such as women in the locker room, strikes, and steroid use

223 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don Strock played in the NFL for 17 years as a backup quarterback, 15 as a Miami Dolphin. While there, he backed up Hall of Fame quarterbacks Bob Griese and Dan Marino. Other potent offensive weapons that he played with were Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, Larry Little and Paul Warfield. The head coach during those years was Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history. Playing for the Dolphins, Strock was on the team for three Super Bowl appearances.
Strock gives all of these players and coaches their just due, yet unlike many books by players in the major sports, he does not spend all of his time spilling out the dirt. While there were some points and actions that were tainted and unclean, they don’t dominate the book. He is also candid about how pervasive drugs were in the NFL, some of the dosages of pain killing drugs given to players were amazing.
Most of the text is spent describing Strock’s actions on the sidelines and the designated person to send the next play into the quarterback as well as be ready on a moment’s notice to enter the offensive huddle. Strock was clearly a good player, his career stats are very good for a man that often had to go into a game cold and try to win it instead of simply play it out.
While this book is an interesting and engaging read, it is not a page turner filled with tense and exciting moments. It reads more as a diary rather than a thriller.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty straightforward story of Don Strock's career with the Miami Dolphins. I've been a Dolphins fan since 1976 so I enjoyed the stories he tells of some of the other players and about his role on the team as he transitioned from Bob Griese's back-up (and also still having Earl Morrall in the room) to sharing time with David Woodley to becoming good friends and a mentor to Dan Marino. Probably not a lot here to find interesting if you are not a Dolphins fan, but there are some stories told of other players in the NFL during his playing career and his thoughts on NFL strikes/lock-outs, steroids and drugs, and on Don Shula (still some bitterness in 1991 from Strock...definitely wonder if things got better between them over the years).

[Paul Carr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy a lot of these “locally-written” sports biographies from players on my favorite teams, and this fits the bill perfectly. Lots of good behind-the-scenes stories, regardless of how cohesive or well-written they are.