Howard Mudd - The View from the O-Line: Football According to NFL Offensive Linemen and an Uncommon Coach

Copyright 2016 by Howard Mudd and Richard Lister

Forewords copyright 2016 by Dan Fouts and Andy Reid

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts

ISBN: 978-1-61321-935-5

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61321-940-9

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To All the Mushrooms

(Ask an O-lineman to explain it or read the book)

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIFE IS A team sport, isnt it? Sure, we all enjoy solitary endeavors from time to time. But even those require other people, at least at some level, dont they? The reward in achieving something in cooperative effort with others is rich. Just ask any offensive lineman.

Football is the ultimate team sport. All eleven players must move in concert for the play to succeed. Of those, the five offensive lineman, each carrying out an assignment, must think and act as one. Each little thing they do matters. One false step, and all eleven can fail. That is why football is an apt metaphor for so much else.

Writing a book is no different. The View from the O-Line would never have made it to print if not for a team devoted to seeing it happen. Each member deserves special recognition.

Naturally, it would not be the book it is without the O-linemen who contributed, each adding his voice to the composite whole that gives the reader a sense for an O-linemans heart and soul. Their stories about who they are and what they do reinforce that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts. To them, we express our profound thanks for being a part of the book.

We are exceptionally grateful to Bill Polian for sharing insights from one of the finest minds that has ever been a part of the NFL. Also to Bill Carollo for his reflections into the game from the perspective of having been one of the leagues most respected referees. And to Jon Torine for his commentary as a strength and conditioning coach, a position that in no small part serves as friend and confidant to offensive linemen.

There is our editor Ken Samelson. His talent as well as his command of the language and written word brought out the best in us, and anyone working with him will become a better writer. And while his reputation as an extraordinary fact checker preceded him, he proved to be even better than we had imagined.

Every organization, every team, every offensive line needs exceptional leadership. We found it for our team in our agent, Sarah Younger at the Nancy Yost Literary Agency. Her love for football and enthusiasm for this book fueled and inspired our progress. Her genius became evident in editorial suggestions, which though subtly imparted, had a profound effect in how the work evolved. She led us through the minefield by massaging and coaxing the manuscript while convincing Sports Publishings Executive Editor Niels Aaboe to take a chance on us. We are deeply indebted to her for embracing our work and her belief in it and us.

And while on the subject of our publisher, we thank Jacob Klein, Sports Publishings Associate Publicist, for guidance toward how we let the world know about our book.

***

Special Thanks from Howard

I am grateful to Dick Lister, who came up with the idea to write about the offensive line in the NFL, spanning many generations. He presented a concept to represent not only what we do but who we are, with a backdrop of a bunch of guys sitting around comparing thoughts and experiences about our craft.

Ive always wanted to write a book about what its like to be in the NFL, so our partnership became a marriage of two ideals. I know most of the contributors. Dick has portrayed all of us and our stories accurately. Its humbling to read how well he took our ramblings and made an interesting, but accurate representation of the way it really was and is.

We spent countless hours visiting about the book, as well as many more life topics. He has become my friend and confidant. Thank you, Dick Lister.

Special Thanks from Richard

I want to add my thanks to my daughter, Jessica Lucadamo, and son-in-law, Tony Lucadamo, for being patient sounding boards for ideas as well as for their astute editorial suggestions throughout the writing.

And to my extraordinary wife, Vicky, my unending thanks not just for being the treasured wife and friend she is, but for her heartening support. Im certain were I to announce I wanted to undertake even the most outlandish enterprise imaginable, shed somehow find a way to lend encouragement.

Then theres Howard. There is so much one could say about him. It is impossible to amply summarize his career in a few paragraphs. It has been documented in the book and elsewhere. And it is subject to confirmation by the many people who know him, who have worked with him, and who have coached against him. But beyond that, there has to be space to recognize the kind of person he is.

If selflessness defines the offensive lineman, Howard embodies it. The reason Howard has so many friendsas many or more outside football as withinis because he cares about and is genuinely interested in others. And it is that quality, among many more, that helped Howard become the great offensive guard and O-line coach he has been. It wasnt long after we began working on our book that he started asking about me and my family. His acquired familiarity quickly led to a genuine interest in us.

So it is no surprise that though we started this journey as collaborators, we have evolved into a bond of friendship. And that seems exactly right. After all, with offensive linemen its not about them. Its caring about those around them.

FOREWORD

by Dan Fouts

OKAY, FELLAS, WHATLL it be, pasta or steak? No, I wasnt taking dinner orders, I was trying to motivate my offensive linemen. You see, linemen are big guys and they love to eat and they really love to eat well. When I quarterbacked the San Diego Chargers, back in the 80s, I used to take my offensive line out to dinner the night before the game. And if we had won the previous weeks game I would pick up the tab. If we had lost, they would treat me and pay for their own individual dinner. As you can imagine, when the dinner was on me these behemoths would eat really well. From steak, to Caesar salad, to shrimp cocktail, to dessert, and to infinity and beyond. Conversely, when the tab was theirs, yep, the always-affordable pasta was the choice de jour. But, I was okay with that because I considered it to be like life insurancemy life!

Obviously, the better I was protected by them the better our chances of winning were and the better my life and health would be. It turned out to be a win-win situation because I loved those guys and really appreciated what they had to go through and what sacrifices they had to make to keep my uniform clean.