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

The View from the O-Line is an NFL narrative that has yet to be told, about men who game-in and game-out take grueling physical punishment without the expectation of fame and media attention. These are the men who make up the offensive line.

Howard Mudd spent more than forty years in the NFL, first as a player and later as a coach. His narrative anchors this work while more than twenty contributors: current and former NFL players—including Nick Mangold, Jeff Saturday, Frank Winters, and Jackie Slater—executives, and officials, add their richly told stories that chronicle the biases faced and overcome by those in this intricate and underestimated position, weaving together an admirable new image of the men playing the sport for reasons beyond simple glory. Clever in craft and modest in spirit, these unheralded players wield the power to make or break a game.

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Howard Mudd was an All-Pro and All- Decade right guard for the San Francisco Forty Niners in the 1960’s. He went on to become one of the most respected offensive line coaches in the game from 1974 to 2012. From 1998 to 2009 he served as the offensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts, which won the Super Bowl in the 2006 season. In 2014 the Pro Football Writers of America made him one of four inaugural recipients of the Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award for lifetime achievement by an NFL assistant coach. He continues his involvement in coaching NFL offensive lines, teaching at speaking at coaching clinics throughout the country.

Richard Lister has been a trial attorney with a passion for writing and a love of sports. He conducted interviews and research that became apart of Hall of Fame baseball umpire Doug Harvey’s autobiography, They Called Me God.