Longtime OL coach Mudd remains hospitalized after accident

Longtime NFL offensive line coach Howard Mudd faces additional surgery as he recovers from serious injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. Tried to turn him over & do spine surgery and was unable to do so due to padding pushing in abdomen & reducing airflow & blood pressure," Shirley Mudd said. "Docs will regroup & try to determine how best to proceed," she continued.

Longtime NFL offensive line coach Howard Mudd faces additional surgery as he recovers from serious injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. Mudd, 78, is hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

In a message posted Saturday night on Mudd's page on the CaringBridge website, a family friend relayed a note from Shirley Mudd, the coach's wife, who addressed treatment of the pelvic and spinal injuries he suffered in the accident on Wednesday. "Ortho surgery on pelvis (external fixator) went smooth. Tried to turn him over & do spine surgery and was unable to do so due to padding pushing in abdomen & reducing airflow & blood pressure," Shirley Mudd said.

"Docs will regroup & try to determine how best to proceed," she continued. "He's awake off and on." Mudd played on the offensive line with the San Francisco 49ers (1964-69) and Chicago Bears (1969-70) before retiring in 1971. He was a three-time Pro Bowl selection and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team for the 1960s.

He served as the offensive line coach for seven NFL teams but is best known as the architect of the line that protected Peyton Manning with the Indianapolis Colts, where he coached from 1998 to 2009. He was an adviser to the Colts in the 2019 preseason. "We're praying for Howard and hoping for the best," Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted Sunday afternoon. "Our thoughts are with Shirley and their children."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)