I would not use (2) ottomans in front of a single sofa myself, I think its too crowded and overkill, personally. However if it works for you, then you certainly can.

All manual recliners have a small detent in them. So you have fully closed, then the TV position, then all the way back. It's pretty easy to balance the recliner in between the detents, however. There are no levers or switches on the manual unit, its simply push back on the arms.

You save on freight by getting all pieces at once, that's about it. What you don't want to do however, is order a something like a single ottoman, as that hits minimum freight charges and they are typically too large to go UPS.