The Blood and Guts

How Tight Ends Save Football

By: Tyler Dunne

Narrated by: Alan Carlson

Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

The definitive guide to the real men of the gridiron: NFL tight ends.

There is no profession in sports like the NFL tight end. None. You must mash 320-pound defensive ends in the run game. You must twist your torso at impossible angles to make acrobatic catches downfield in the pass game. You must have a certain element of crazy to you, too. The tight end is a blend of brain and brawn and bruises…so many bruises. BLOOD AND GUTS tracks the fascinating rise of this position one tight end at a time, from Mike Ditka and John Mackey in the '60s to Rob Gronkowski today. As much as football has changed over the years, there has always been one glorious constant: the tight end.

None of this is by accident, either. There’s a reason all of these players were magnetically drawn to the position.

In BLOOD AND GUTS, Tyler Dunne interviews the greatest tight ends ever, whose stories reveal why they were uniquely qualified to serve as the blood and the guts of football—the players keeping this sport alive and well. There’s a reason Mike Ditka epitomized true toughness in pro football through the 1960s. Ben Coates, the son of a World War II vet, put an entire childhood spent building roofs to use by smashing defenders in the open field. Tony Gonzalez matured from a kid terrified of bullies to an absolute beast terrifying defensive backs. His entire life, Jeremy Shockey has been hellbent on sticking it to anyone who doubts him. And from afar, a young “Gronk” idolized Shockey and took his approach to a whole new level.

Here, great American tight ends share countless harrowing, never-before-told stories. One moment, a tight end (Gonzalez) nearly socks a coach in the eye. The next, a tight end (Shockey) is breaking the orbital bone of someone in a bar fight.

There’s no one in sports like them. BLOOD AND GUTS brings them to life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Tyler Dunne (P)2022 Twelve

Critic reviews

“This is an exceptional look at one of football’s most fascinating and overlooked positions, reported and told richly by one of our finest pro football writers. With insight and humanity, Tyler Dunne profiles the game’s great tight ends while reflecting on their place in the evolution of their position.”—Dan Pompei, senior writer for The Athletic

“Football is complicated, as you know. We need enthusiastic wordsmiths who love the game to figure it out, and to advance theories about the real meaning of it. This is what Tyler Dunne does in THE BLOOD AND GUTS. In these pages—very early, in fact—you’ll learn why the tight end position is so crucial to understanding everything about football, and you’ll see why the ethos of men like Mike Ditka was so important to the game, and to the position. As Dunne writes, ‘The tight end is the sport itself distilled to one position.’ He's right.”—Peter King, NBC Sports

"From the grit and power of Iron Mike Ditka to the athleticism of Tony Gonzalez and the combination of both with Rob Gronkowsk - and so many others in between - Tyler Dunne brings us inside the souls of these men who helped transform the game of football. Ditka and John Mackey began the tight end revolution and Gonzalez, George Kittle, Gronk and others refined it, elevating the position to an art form and showing how teams could gain a huge advantage. Dunne’s revealing portraits of these men provide terrific insight into a fearlessness and relentlessness that make them some of the toughest and most interesting players in the game. He earns their trust, and they respond by sharing details of their lives that enrich the reader in a well-written and painstakingly reported book."—Bob Glauber, co-author of The Forgotten First and author of Guts and Genius

Football lovers must

Great look back on the history of tight ends (and football), and how the position was shaped into what we see today! This will be a book I listen to over and over again.

A wild ride, just like the men it features

Author Tyler Dunne takes the reader on a riotous ride through the evolution of the tight end by profiling 15 of the sport’s greats. Their stories, told in their words and the remembrances of others are unbelievable, heartening, uplifting and informative. I laughed, cried, and stood dumbstruck by their recollections.Though they come from different eras all those featured share the same grit, the same “guts,” that make them and the sport great. Highly recommend.

Fantastic book

Loved this book! Great stories about these guys that I hadn’t heard before. In depth. Tyler put a ton of work into this book and it paid off. Narrator is really good also. A pleasure for any serious football fan.