Football-O-Rama

Rather than devoting each volume to an individual team and its history, the books in the Football-O-Rama series take a more holistic approach to the NFL’s current powerhouse teams and players. While this won’t help the books from becoming almost immediately dated like other pro sports books, it does make them stand apart in a crowded field. Pro Football’s Dream Teams profiles the AFC-heavy group of the Patriots, Steelers, Colts, and Saints. A page of each team’s highlights is followed by a look at how they’ve managed to maintain perennial success. Pro Football’s Most Spectacular Quarterbacks returns to the signal-callers of those same four teams but also adds the likes of Brett Favre, Philip Rivers, and Aaron Rodgers, with single-page profiles and a small list of highlights for each. The most eye-opening book of the set is Pro Football’s Stars of the Defense, which makes some surprising choices in an attempt to include the more unheralded defensive positions, like profiling Baltimore’s defensive tackle Haloti Ngata instead of star linebacker Ray Lewis. Skill-position superstars like Adrian Peterson and Andre Johnson pop up in Pro Football’s Stars of the Offense, though again, attention to linemen such as Ryan Clady and Nick Mangold makes for a well-rounded look at the offensive side of the ball. Crisp, full-bleed action photos add some zing, and a glossary and list of further resources round out each offering.