INDIANAPOLIS – Legendary Colts offensive lineman Howard Mudd is in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after suffering a severe motorcycle turn from fate last Wednesday, according to a page on TheIns’ online page that releases updates to Mudd’s wife Shirley.
Mudd underwent orthopedic pelvic surgery and was scheduled for spinal surgery, but doctors were forced to delay the spinal procedure, according to Shirley Mudd’s updates.
According to the updates, Mudd woke up intermittently, and a member of the family circle may be with him in the hospital, and there has been a wave of members of the offensive community, Colts enthusiasts and other friends.
Hall of Famer Kevin Mawae and another longtime offensive line coach, Paul Alexander, tweeted calls to pray for Mudd, whose effect on the offense line game in the NFL is considerable.
“We pray for Howard and we hope for the best,” Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted. “We are with Shirley and her children
Widely regarded as one of the assistant coaches in NFL history, Mudd is just a year away from his last assignment with the Colts.
Mudd spent most of the 2019 off-season and the entire education camp as a senior offensive representative for the Colts before resigning some time before the start of the season. Mudd spoke about his retirement through Colts head coach Frank Reich and helped offensive lineman Chris Strausser teach Mudd’s techniques in the existing Indianapolis line last season, creating some other link between the Reich Colts and the Peyton Manning-era Colts.
A veteran of eight other NFL coaches, Mudd is better known for building the offensive line than Manning, who was rarely fired at the time in Indianapolis. Under Mudd’s leadership, the Colts’ offensive line allowed only 227 catches in 192 games, a remarkable feat that included six seasons that allowed fewer catches than any NFL team.