In Bloody Sundays, award-winning sportswriter Mike Freeman delivers an eye-opening appraisal of football, capturing the complexities and controversies of America's new national pastime. With fascinating insights, Freeman goes beyond day-to-day newspaper journalism and ESPN highlights to take us deep inside the game and reveal the NFL in ways that will surprise even the most avid football fans. He travels to the sidelines and into the locker rooms to interview hundreds of players and coaches on their expertise. Breaking the game down to its three essential elements -- coaching, offense, and defense -- Freeman profiles in depth three of today's football elite: Jon Gruden, head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Michael Strahan, defensive end for the New York Giants; and Emmitt Smith, the legendary running back. Part tribute, part expos‚, Bloody Sundays is a vivid portrait of professional football, the men who strap on their helmets every Sunday, and the men who lead them.