Ten football books for the season’s home stretch

Enjoy these 10 titles as the football season reaches its last days.

5. 'Collision of Wills: John Unitas, Don Shula, and the Rise of the Modern NFL,’ by Jack Gilden

As great as the Baltimore Colts were in the 1960s, they qualify as one of the most frustrated teams in NFL history. While favorites to win twice in championship games, they came up short shockingly on both occasions, losing to Cleveland in 1964 in the pre-Super Bowl era and then to the New York Jets in Super Bowl III. Both losses occurred during the seven years Don Shula was the head coach and Johnny Unitas the team’s legendary quarterback. Shula went on to become the winningest coach in league history and Unitas to the Hall of Fame. But their inability to see eye to eye, as captured in “Collision of Wills,” may well have factored into why the team with a winning percentage superior to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers lacked the same championship luster.

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