Fearless: How an Underdog Becomes a Champion
Fearless: How an Underdog Becomes a Champion book cover

Fearless: How an Underdog Becomes a Champion

Price
$12.43
Format
Hardcover
Pages
272
Publisher
Hachette Books
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0316451642
Dimensions
6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
Weight
1.08 pounds

Description

"Required reading for modern coaches in any sport...Pederson [is] the perfect example of intelligent risk-taking....The book's not just for Eagles fans. Coaches, and fans, in all sports will learn from it."― Peter King, NBCSports.com "The story of Eagles head coach Doug Pederson [is] more than a little interesting....An engaging memoir."― Christian Science Monitor "What Doug Pederson did during the Eagles' Super Bowl season was one of the best coaching jobs I have ever seen in the NFL, and really in all sports."― Jeffrey Lurie, from the foreword "Philadelphia's head coach may have done something even more impressive than winning a Super Bowl: He wrote an interesting and entertaining football book...Pederson is one of the handful of coaches on the cutting edge of the sport...A love letter to aggressive play calling [ Fearless ] give[s] good insight into the modern football world."― TheRinger.com "Pederson emerges as a different kind of coach. Less autocratic than most NFL head men, he's abit more attuned to the culture and the atmosphere surrounding the team....Fine reading for any NFL fan."― Booklist "Reveals much about the leader, the champion, and, best of all, the man. Pederson discusses the principles that guided him through the ups and downs of his career and what it took to lead his team to a Super Bowl win."― SJ Magazine "On the arm of his backup quarterback, Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles achieved a miracle....Pederson shares how he along with his team accomplished one of the most memorable Super Bowl victories in NFL history."― CBN's 700 Club Doug Pederson is the coach of the Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles. In his second season as an NFL head coach, Pederson led the Eagles to an NFC East title, the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, and the first Super Bowl title in franchise history with a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots. He spent fourteen years as a quarterback in the NFL, serving as the backup for Brett Favre for many years on the Green Bay Packers. Pederson lives with his wife, Jeannie, and their children in Moorestown, New Jersey. Dan Pompei has written about the NFL for more than three decades and received the 2013 Dick McCann Award for long and distinguished reporting on professional football. He currently writes for Bleacher Report and The Athletic .

Features & Highlights

  • How does an underdog become a champion? One of the most innovative, gutsy, and dynamic head coaches in the NFL reveals the strategies behind building the Eagles team that shocked the world by winning the Super Bowl. Doug Pederson is the very definition of an underdog. He was an undrafted rookie free agent who would go on to play fourteen years in the NFL as a backup quarterback. He was cut five times, yet kept getting back up and into the fray. He would win one Super Bowl, with the Green Bay Packers. When he retired, he decided to coach, but not at the pro level. Instead, he was head coach of Calvary Baptist Academy in Shreveport, Louisiana. After a successful four-year stint there, he returned to the NFL as an assistant coach under Andy Reid with the Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, where he was instrumental in the development of quarterback Alex Smith and his string of 3,000-plus-yard seasons of passing. When he was offered the job as head coach of the Eagles, he jumped at it, though few thought he would succeed. In the first season, a year of rebuilding, they finished 7-9. Some doubted his abilities, and before the 2017 season, one "expert" called Pederson the least qualified coach in thirty years. Plagued by the sidelining of seasoned players and devastated by quarterback Carson Wentz's season-ending knee injury, the Eagles managed a 13-3 record and home-field advantage in the playoffs. Yet they were still the underdogs in every single game, including the Super Bowl, against the New England Patriots, one of the greatest dynasties in the history of the NFL. It wasn't until they stunned the Patriots that people finally believed in Pederson and his team. In
  • Fearless
  • , Pederson reveals the principles that guided him through the ups and downs and tough times of his career, and what it took to become a champion. Through it all, Pederson sustained himself with his faith and the support of his family. He shares the defining stories of his life and career, growing up with his disciplinarian Air Force dad and his tender-hearted mom, developing friendships with Dan Marino and Brett Favre, and learning from mentors, such as Don Shula, Mike Holmgren, and Andy Reid, who helped mold him into the man and coach he is today.
  • Fearless
  • captures Pederson's coaching and leadership philosophies and reveals the brilliant mind and indomitable spirit of a man who has entered the pantheon of great coaches.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(175)
★★★★
25%
(73)
★★★
15%
(44)
★★
7%
(20)
-7%
(-21)

Most Helpful Reviews

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It's about the Journey, not the Destination

I absolutely loved the book. Me being an Eagles fan didn’t color my perception of it. If I found it to be poorly written, an exercise in Ego, or simply nothing more than humdrum, I would state as much.

Instead, I actually found it to be refreshing. Pederson doesn’t mince words on how he got to this point. He’s more than happy to explain his journey, giving both the highs and the lows that helped him get to a point of raising the Lombardi Trophy in triumph. In addition, he came from a strong Christian background, and Faith is very important to him. He’s not even remotely squeamish about discussing his faith, and touches on it quite often throughout the book.

If you think that Faith and Football don't mix, don't bother with this one.

He's also quite blunt about Football only being part of his life, not the entirety of his life, and he specifically discusses that very notion near the end of the book. While Pederson's body of work has yet to even approach theirs, I couldn't help but conclude that he's echoing a philosophy that was quite similar to the likes of Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll and Bill Parcells, in that while their particular area of expertise was Football, the sport of Football was only a part of their Life's Work. I believe that espousing that particular philosophy played a large part in driving the latter three to the ridiculous success they achieved.

The book is straight-forward, getting to the point. There’s no flowery speech to be found. Pederson doesn’t use 25 words when 10 will do. I’d imagine that if we were to encounter Doug Pederson behind closed doors, what is written wouldn’t be too different from what we’d experience.

I highly recommend it.
4 people found this helpful
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Inspirational and informative, FEARLESS is a book everyone will enjoy.

What an inspirational and informative book FEARLESS, by Doug Pederson, is. Pederson walks the reader through his coaching philosophy, how came to be the man he is today, and intertwines insight into how the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles became Super Bowl champions.
From being an undrafted rookie to Super Bowl winning head coach, Pederson has had a storied career in the NFL. He crafts the book to explain a part of his coaching style in each chapter and reinforces its effectiveness and/or how he came use that facet of coaching by telling a story either from his career as a mostly backup quarterback, from his family upbringing, or from observing a applying coaching styles from his many coaching mentors. Pederson's optimism and calculated aggressive approach as player and a coach and really in how he lives life is infectious and inspiring. Even when he talks about his mistakes, which he fully acknowledges and owns, the reader just feels like all of it together is just part of living the way Doug Pederson lives.
Full of stories, anecdotes, and meaningful thoughts on life, FEARLESS reminds us to prepare for life choices properly, but then be fearless in the choices we make.
Thank you to Hachette Books, Doug Pederson, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
3 people found this helpful
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Poorly Written, Trite and Cliche' Garbage.

This book is a poorly written account of Doug Pederson's rise from NFL journeyman as a backup QB to becoming the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and winning the Superbowl. It is little more than countless motivational platitudes and overused sports cliches. Heavy on religion as well. Even if you are a die-hard Eagles fan, wanting to relive your lone Super Bowl Victory, as it quickly dwindles in the rear view mirror... this book ain't it.
2 people found this helpful
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Gonna fly now

Fearless is Eagles Coach Doug Pedersons ' story of how the Eagles became Super Bowl Champs. This is an inspirational story from the ultimate underdog team and its coach. Pederson spent 14 seasons in the NFL as a backup q.b. and was cut 6 times in his career. In the NFL he was never a star but he was surrounded by both players and coaches who were. He was a backup to Brett Favre on a Super bowl winning team and both a player and assistant coach under Andy Reid in Philadelphia and Kansas City. He spent time with the Dolphins with Dan Marino and Don Shula. Being surrounded by talented and knowledgable football people made him the person and the winning coach he is today. Pederson is a humble, admirable man who coached High School Football upon retirement, he is also a faithful family man who seems to posses a non-quitting spirit. In this book he explains his risk taking coaching philosophy and how the Eagles who were the underdog in every playoff game became champs. You don't have to be a Football fan or an Eagles fan to appreciate this inspiring story. Recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Fantastic!

Inspirational, interesting, great read. Pederson and Pompei knock this one out of the park!
2 people found this helpful
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Doug Pederson provides enjoyable memoir of football, family, and faith

Doug Pederson, head coach of the Super Bowl LII champion Philadelphia Eagles, offers an interesting look at his life and career in his new memoir, Fearless.

Throughout the book Pederson easily transitions between his early life, his time as a player in the NFL, and his current job as head coach of the Eagles. As might be expected, he spends considerable time on what he's best known for, guiding the Eagles to their first Super Bowl championship following the 2017 season.

Pederson gives insight into his coaching and leadership philosophies, and it's not hard to see why his players and coaches love him and enjoy working hard for him. He recounts the influences of those who have mentored him in football and in life and the experiences that have brought him to where he is today. Particular note is given to serving as Brett Favre's longtime backup in Green Bay, his apprenticeship as a coach under Andy Reid, the support of his wife Jeannie for the last quarter century, and the importance of his Christian faith to who he is as a person and a coach. Another interesting feature in this book is Pederson's thoughts on his team and players moving forward, not just in looking back at the triumph in the most recent Super Bowl.

Fans of the Philadelphia Eagles in particular will enjoy Fearless, but football fans anywhere will find something to like in this enjoyable football memoir. Thanks to NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
1 people found this helpful
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Super bowl champion

Didn’t read. It was gift
1 people found this helpful
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Dallas sucks!

great book, don't need to read it to know because "Some clown named Mike Lombardi called coach Doug the worst coach in the NFL" and he proved every doubter wrong!
1 people found this helpful
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Trash

This book is absolute trash.
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Go Birds

Great read and definitely kept me engaged to read more being a Eagles fan.