The Genius of Desperation Quotes

“People say Jimmy Orr was wide open,” Michaels later said.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“This time Orr was wide open downfield again, but for whatever reason, Morrall turned and threw over the middle to Hill, who ran a slant. Safety Jim Hudson was all over Hill and came away with Morrall’s final mistake. Even as Morrall released the ball, you could hear broadcaster Curt Gowdy saying, “They’ve got Orr wide open…nobody within 15 yards of him!” Matte later said that Morrall didn’t see Orr open because the Colts’ marching band was behind Orr and ready to come onto the field for halftime.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“These picks, and the option pass that should have worked in Baltimore’s favor, made the difference in the game. Morrall was so atypically bad that conspiracy theorists, who believe that Super Bowl III was fixed to give the AFL the appearance of equality, point to his game as the primary evidence.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“Hadl threw the ball just 204 times in three seasons at Kansas as a running back and quarterback, so it was a bit like going straight from high school to a post-graduate education. Gillman taught Hadl that if a defender was looking at the running back, it was man-to-man coverage.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“Bears owner George Halas had come up with this tactic as he reviewed his old playbooks from the 1930s, essentially turning Bill George into a middle guard and creating a blitz package that this shotgun team couldn’t stop. With a few exceptions, the San Francisco shotgun died on October 22, 1961. Hickey used it a few times after that, but he did not develop it further as a schematic concept that could aid his offense. It would take years for the shotgun to return to the NFL and even more time before it was taken seriously.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“But Hickey was responsible for one minor and one major schematic innovation. The minor one was the alley-oop, a jump-ball strategy that made a star out of receiver R.C. Owens. The major one—because it’s the prominent offensive formation in the NFL today—is the shotgun. The Green Bay Packers had used a version of what became the shotgun with a short punt formation years before, but that was more of a trick play unintended to be used on every snap.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“At first Shaughnessy ran the same formations he always had, but during that first season, he realized that speed runner Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch would be a better receiver than a running back. He converted Hirsch to a flanker and thus created the three-receiver formation as a base offensive concept.”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL

“Vision without execution is hallucination.” —Thomas Edison”
― Doug Farrar, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL