Even after hip surgery, Mudd is one tough dude

Howard Mudd is one tough dude.

The Eagles 69-year-old offensive line coach has been back at practice this week coaching the offensive line from a cartaptly nicknamed the Muddmobile by several members of the media.

See, while some of the Eagles went home during the bye week and others used the time to clear their heads and get some rest, Mudd underwent a hip replacement surgery.

And hes back on the fieldalready.

I think he eats nails, guard Evan Mathis joked. Hes a real tough dude. I think hes steadily making progress. Just like any surgery, theres a recovery process to it.

So how is the Eagles senior citizen O-line coach doing in his first week back with the team?

Hes even crankier than usual if you can believe that. I think the pain is getting to him, center Jason Kelce said laughing. Hes doing alright.

The day after the Eagles 20-13 win over the Redskins, Andy Reid commented on Mudds surgery, like he would any other injury.

Howard Mudd, adding him to the injury report here, Reid said, had hip replacement surgery and it went well according to the doctors. He should be back and ready to go when we get back.

And he is. On Thursday, just like Wednesday, Mudd spent practice sitting in the Muddmobile with crutches by his side. Since Philadelphia fans were introduced to Mudd during training camp, he has carried a cane and has ridden around in a cart. For a brief time, he walked with crutches but has been on the sideline for every game.

And after LeSean McCoy scored in the third quarter of the Atlanta game, Mudd, just about five weeks before his surgery, met McCoy on the sideline with a celebratory shoulderchest bump. Mudd got some nice air, met Shady in mid-jump, landed, then put his cane back on the ground and hobbled away.

Yeah, hes pretty tough.

Kelce joked that another chest bump with McCoy might be on the way, although doctors would probably advise against it.

He is as tough as they come, Mathis said. If he wasnt as tough, he wouldnt be doing this anymore. Hed be retired and relaxing. He likes to be in it and be involved.

Mudd was retired before the Eagles persuaded the coaching great to come out of retirement when they moved their former offensive line coach, Juan Castillo, to the defensive side of the ball.

An NFL player in the mid-to-late 1960s, Mudd began coaching in the NFL in 1974. Before the Eagles got Mudd to come back from retirement, his most recent coaching job was in Indianapolis, where he orchestrated the offensive line that protected Peyton Manning for a decade.

First-year Eagle guard Kyle DeVan spent his first two years in the NFL under Mudd in Indianapolis and remembers his coach always having that same hard-nosed, grumpy persona of a classic football curmudgeon.

Howard has been doing it for that long so hes not really going to change, DeVan said. Hes going to press kids, especially the young kids. He put the emphasis on the younger kids because they need to learn now. Every one that has been under Howard as a first-, second-year player has gone through that. If you survive it, youre going to be better.

A couple of weeks ago, a report from ProFootballTalk, citing an unidentified source, said that some of the younger Eagles on the offensive line werent embracing Mudds old-school tactics. Several linemen took exception to that report.

I dont think that report was valid in any way, Mathis said. Everything that Howard has told somebody to do, Ive seen those people try to do and utilize those techniques on the field. Ive been respecting him since I heard about him. Ive known who he is for a while. His track record speaks for itself.

The report was especially troublesome to DeVan, who credits much of his success in the league to learning from Mudd.

I heard about that and it said from an inside source and I wanted to know who that source was, DeVan said. In the media world, there are a lot of things that get said and typed up that affect people and you dont really know where it came from. From my perspective, I think its very untrue. I think Howards going to be the same guy, hes going to get on the rookies.

There are three rookie offensive linemen on the Eagles roster: Kelce, fifth-rounder Julian Vandervelde and first-rounder and starting right guard Danny Watkins.

I dont know if it was that Howard was just being hard on a rookie, DeVan continued. Well, hell, its the NFL. Thats a part of the game. I went through it with Howard and I survived it and Im a better player and a better person because of it.

Mudd can be an intimidating force.

Hes blunt. Hes direct. Hes to the point, Mathis said.

DeVan added that they dont have to be best friends with him, they just have to respect and listen to their coach, even now, as he yells at them from the Muddmobile.

Hes still grumpy, DeVan said. Hes still Howard.

E-mail Dave Zangaro at dzangaro@comcastsportsnet.com