Len Dawson; Pressure Quarterback

by Len Dawson, Lou Sahadi, Len Dawson

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000OEIPNQ
• ISBN13: 9780402120506
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Cowles Book Company
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Great Triumph for a Championship Quarterback

Clearly, "Len Dawson, Pressure Quarterback," is aptly titled. When Lenny led the Kansas City Chiefs to a convincing 23-7 Super Bowl victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1970, not only did he engineer a big upset (the Vikes were heavily favored, like Baltimore over Namath's Jets in 1969), but he overcame the scandal of being linked to a gambling investigation during Super Bowl week. Having been officially cleared just prior to Super Sunday, he proceeded to win the Super Bowl MVP award. Lenny trumped pro football's toughest defense using innovative formations and a moving pocket. He tells how he completed 12 of 17 mostly play-action passes in executing the team's successful strategy of double-teaming Viking defensive ends Carl Eller and Jim Marshall and passing in front of the Viking cornerbacks. Len Dawson had been in pro football for a long time, starting in the 1950s when he played for the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers. He writes about his youth, his Purdue and NFL Years, and his AFL years through the 1968 season with the Chiefs. This includes the loss to the Packers in the first Super Bowl. However, substantially more than half of the book focuses on the 1969 season. The narrative is chronological except for Chapter 1, which focuses on the gambling allegations of Super Bowl week. It was no minor matter; Lenny had difficulty with basic functions of life and even feared he would not be able to play in the Super Bowl. The 1969 season was a wild ride for Lenny, who missed almost half of it with an injury. The Chiefs did not even finish 1st in the AFL Western Division, but they had a championship caliber 11-3 record. This included two close defeats at the hands of the division champion Oakland Raiders. In the playoffs, the Chiefs first won a very tough game on a cold and windy day against the defending champion Jets. A Dawson TD pass to Gloster Richardson was the difference, but Lenny tells how the defense did a heroic job all day. In particular, it forced the Jets to settle for a field goal following a pass interference call that had given them a first down on the Chiefs' 1. In the AL Championship game, not only did the Chiefs have to do it once again on the opposing team's home field, but they had to overcome a mental block of seven Raider victories over them in the last eight meetings. The defense also led the way in a cathartic 17-7 victory, but Lenny again showed he was a pressure quarterback by a big completion to Otis Taylor on 3rd and 13 from the Chiefs' 2 that put the Chiefs near midfield. This led to the go-ahead touchdown and switched the momentum. At the end of the game, "[u]p on the scoreboard was one of the most beautiful sights that I had ever seen: Kansas City 17, Oakland 7." In many ways, this was a bigger victory for the Chiefs than the Super Bowl win. I later saw Lenny comment on a video that he thought Oakland would have beaten the Vikings had they won this game. The Chiefs were a powerhouse in pro footb

Len Dawsons life

This is Autobigography of Len Dawsons life and his football carrer all the way up to the 1971 season i belive.He covers his experiances through various all star games and with different coaches and the Highs and lows of the super bowl from loosing to Green bay in super bowl 1 and winning against minnesota in super bowl 4.