Overview

Football games aren't won on Sundays in the fall. They're won on draft day in the spring-in the war room. In this landmark book, New York Times bestselling author Michael Holley takes readers behind the scenes of three contending National Football League teams and into the brilliant minds of Bill Belichick and his two former protégés Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli. Holley masterfully shows how a single idea conceived by Belichick in 1991-how to build the perfect team-triggered a journey filled with miraculous finishes, heartbreaking losses, broken relationships, and Super Bowl championships. Readers are given unprecedented access-from the draft room to the locker room to the sidelines-and insights into why Belichick is considered to be the NFL's best coach and premier strategist. Before he achieved success, though, Belichick was barely surviving as a coach. War Room opens in Cleveland, where Belichick, a young head coach, worked in an office with two employees in their late twenties: Pioli, a low-paid scouting assistant, and Dimitroff, a groundskeeper and part-time scout. After Belichick was fired by the Browns in 1996, the three men were in separate cities and seemingly a lifetime away from being recognized as leaders and champions. But soon they were reunited in New England, where they refined and burnished Belichick's method for constructing a winning team, overseeing one of the greatest franchises in modern NFL history. These three master strategists are now competitors. Belichick continues at the helm of the New England Patriots, while Pioli is now in charge of the Kansas City Chiefs and Dimitroff is running the Atlanta Falcons. And even though they no longer work for the same franchise, they do have a common goal: building the perfect team, one draft pick and one trade at a time. War Room is their unique and often astonishing story. It is packed with never-been-told anecdotes and new observations from team officials, players, coaches, and scouts, all leading to surprising and groundbreaking insights into the art of building a champion.

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9780062082398

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The ultimate book for pro football geeks. --Publishers Weekly WAR ROOM is going to take you into the inner world of pro football. I recommend it highly. --Peter King, Sports Illustrated -A deeply reported, thoroughly engaging look at what it takes to succeed in the NFL.---Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -WAR ROOM is going to take you into the inner world of pro football. I recommend it highly.---Peter King, Sports Illustrated -The ultimate book for pro football geeks.---Publishers Weekly -Fans will want to read how Belichick transformed the once-lackluster Patriots into the mostsuccessful franchise of the past decade, which Holley explains in an engaging chronological narrative.---Booklist Crisply written, the story moves along like a two-minute drill. It also sparkles with interesting anecdotes and tidbits....WAR ROOM is a lively, fast-paced insider's account that will please ardent and casual fans alike. --Boston Globe Fans will want to read how Belichick transformed the once-lackluster Patriots into the most successful franchise of the past decade, which Holley explains in an engaging chronological narrative. --Booklist A deeply reported, thoroughly engaging look at what it takes to succeed in the NFL. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

WAR ROOM is going to take you into the inner world of pro football. I recommend it highly. --Peter King, Sports Illustrated

WAR ROOM is going to take you into the inner world of pro football. I recommend it highly. --Peter King, Sports Illustrated A deeply reported, thoroughly engaging look at what it takes to succeed in the NFL. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Fans will want to read how Belichick transformed the once-lackluster Patriots into the most successful franchise of the past decade, which Holley explains in an engaging chronological narrative. --Booklist The ultimate book for pro football geeks. --Publishers Weekly Crisply written, the story moves along like a two-minute drill. It also sparkles with interesting anecdotes and tidbits....WAR ROOM is a lively, fast-paced insider's account that will please ardent and casual fans alike. --Boston Globe

WAR ROOM is going to take you into the inner world of pro football. I recommend it highly. --Peter King, Sports Illustrated Crisply written, the story moves along like a two-minute drill. It also sparkles with interesting anecdotes and tidbits....WAR ROOM is a lively, fast-paced insider's account that will please ardent and casual fans alike. --Boston Globe The ultimate book for pro football geeks. --Publishers Weekly Fans will want to read how Belichick transformed the once-lackluster Patriots into the most successful franchise of the past decade, which Holley explains in an engaging chronological narrative. --Booklist A deeply reported, thoroughly engaging look at what it takes to succeed in the NFL. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"""A deeply reported, thoroughly engaging look at what it takes to succeed in the NFL."" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Crisply written, the story moves along like a two-minute drill. It also sparkles with interesting anecdotes and tidbits....WAR ROOM is a lively, fast-paced insider's account that will please ardent and casual fans alike."" -- Boston Globe ""WAR ROOM is going to take you into the inner world of pro football. I recommend it highly."" -- Peter King, Sports Illustrated ""The ultimate book for pro football geeks."" -- Publishers Weekly ""Fans will want to read how Belichick transformed the once-lackluster Patriots into the most successful franchise of the past decade, which Holley explains in an engaging chronological narrative."" -- Booklist"

Author Information

MICHAEL HOLLEY is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Patriot Reign, Never Give Up (with Tedy Bruschi), and Red Sox Rule. He was a Boston Globe sportswriter for ten years, and he is the cohost of The Big Show on Boston sports radio station WEEI. Holley lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his wife and two sons.

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