Howard Mudd

Leave it to Howard Mudd, avid motorcyclist, to evoke a riding metaphor when asked if some recent time off would extend his coaching life. "There's still some gas in the tank," Mudd said Tuesday. "I want to drive fast, too, and I want to go a long ways. " Mudd made his first appearance at spring practices this offseason. With the blessing of coach Andy Reid, the 71-year-old offensive line coach skipped four weeks of voluntary workouts in an effort to stay fresh for the coming season.

The Eagles start a former tackle at guard and a former guard at center. Their starting right tackle has not started there since 2010, and their starting left tackle played right tackle for more than a half in the last game. This is the Eagles' 2012 offensive line, a group beset by injuries that sidelined four of its previous starters and has allowed quarterback Michael Vick to be sacked 27 times this season. When they play the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, the Eagles likely will start Demetress Bell at left tackle, Evan Mathis at left guard, Dallas Reynolds at center, Dennis Kelly at right guard, and King Dunlap at right tackle.

Howard Mudd was living, quite literally, in Leisure World when Andy Reid phoned him one January day with the hopes of luring him out of retirement. Reid's peculiar idea of naming offensive line coach Juan Castillo the Eagles' next defensive coordinator could only happen, in his words, if Mudd had agreed to take Castillo's spot only a year after calling it quits with the Colts. There was a brief feeling-out period. Mudd: "You know that I'm not going to do things like Juan did them.

JASON PETERS says the right Achilles' tendon he ruptured twice last spring is 100 percent again. Todd Herremans says the broken right foot that cost him half the 2012 season is as good as new. And Jason Kelce says the right ACL he tore last September is getting better every day and he expects to be "full go" for the start of training camp in 2 1/2 months. If you're looking for a reason to believe that the Eagles can be more than a 6-10 or 7-9 football team in Chip Kelly's first season as an NFL head coach, Peters, Herremans, Kelce and the rest of the offensive line are it. Let's face it. We don't have the slightest clue at this point what kind of production they will get from the quarterback position because we don't even know who the hell the quarterback will be, and probably won't know until the middle of August.

THE OFFENSIVE line arrayed in front of Michael Vick this week at Chip Kelly's first minicamp might look pretty different from the group that takes the field next month, when the team again assembles. The Eagles hold the fourth overall pick in the April 25-27 NFL draft, and with three offensive tackles expected to go in the top 10, plus a couple of guards, the veterans on the line could soon be welcoming to their group the highest-drafted Eagle since Donovan McNabb arrived (accompanied by boos, local legend holds)

EAGLES PRACTICE was closed Monday and the members of Howard Mudd's beleaguered offensive line weren't forthcoming afterward, but it eventually trickled out that King Dunlap has replaced Demetress Bell at left tackle. CSNPhilly.com's Reuben Frank reported the switch, which was reflected Monday night in the depth chart posted on the team website. The Eagles signed Bell to start at left tackle in March for $3.25 million this year, after Jason Peters' first of two Achilles' tears.

TWO YEARS of bad offensive lines cost Andy Reid his job. Two years of injury and inexperience up front cost Michael Vick two concussions, five injured ribs and millions of dollars. Lousy blocking and confused assignments cost the Eagles' organization two precious seasons of DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek, all in their prime. Those players, and Vick, have one last chance to again set defenders quivering in their quilts on Saturday nights. That chance lies in the lap of beefy, bifocaled offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and center Dallas Reynolds both started Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys despite being listed as questionable. Cox missed practice Wednesday because of a bruised tailbone and was absent Thursday and Friday because of a death in his family. Cox rejoined the team in North Texas on Saturday. He left the game in the second quarter after he reinjured his tailbone. Cox was taken to the locker room for examination but started the second half.

As he follows Juan Castillo, Howard Mudd is careful not to disparage him. "I'm treading on the guy I'm succeeding, and I don't want to do that," Mudd said Still . . . Mudd's lines in Indianapolis allowed 18.5 sacks per season. Castillo's allowed 40.5 per season in the same time span. Of course, Mudd's Colts lines protected Peyton Manning, a predictable, immobile quarterback all too willing to throw balls away. Castillo's Eagles dealt mainly with Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick, the most electric scramblers in league history, who welcomed contact and who hated to waste a down.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Demetress Bell doesn't have to go far to find out what it's like to play left tackle for the Eagles, with Howard Mudd as his offensive line coach. Bell, 28, is sharing a dormitory room at training camp with the man he is replacing and whose very large cleats he must step into. "I've got Jason Peters in my dorm room and Howard Mudd in the classroom," Bell said. "What else could you want?" Peters, whose ruptured Achilles tendon led to the Eagles' acquiring Bell in early April, reported to Lehigh University just like the rest of his teammates, even though he is likely out for the season.

JASON PETERS says the right Achilles' tendon he ruptured twice last spring is 100 percent again. Todd Herremans says the broken right foot that cost him half the 2012 season is as good as new. And Jason Kelce says the right ACL he tore last September is getting better every day and he expects to be "full go" for the start of training camp in 2 1/2 months. If you're looking for a reason to believe that the Eagles can be more than a 6-10 or 7-9 football team in Chip Kelly's first season as an NFL head coach, Peters, Herremans, Kelce and the rest of the offensive line are it. Let's face it. We don't have the slightest clue at this point what kind of production they will get from the quarterback position because we don't even know who the hell the quarterback will be, and probably won't know until the middle of August.

THE OFFENSIVE line arrayed in front of Michael Vick this week at Chip Kelly's first minicamp might look pretty different from the group that takes the field next month, when the team again assembles. The Eagles hold the fourth overall pick in the April 25-27 NFL draft, and with three offensive tackles expected to go in the top 10, plus a couple of guards, the veterans on the line could soon be welcoming to their group the highest-drafted Eagle since Donovan McNabb arrived (accompanied by boos, local legend holds)

TWO YEARS of bad offensive lines cost Andy Reid his job. Two years of injury and inexperience up front cost Michael Vick two concussions, five injured ribs and millions of dollars. Lousy blocking and confused assignments cost the Eagles' organization two precious seasons of DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek, all in their prime. Those players, and Vick, have one last chance to again set defenders quivering in their quilts on Saturday nights. That chance lies in the lap of beefy, bifocaled offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Andy Reid walked off the field for the last time as an Eagles coach, and just as he entered through the tunnel Howard Mudd waddled up behind him and locked arms. With bad knees and an artificial hip, Mudd has a difficult time walking. But he wanted to say something to Reid, who lured him out of retirement almost two years ago, so the offensive line coach picked up his cane and walked swiftly. New York Giants fans hung over the tunnel from their seats and mocked Reid and his players.

When Michael Vick last played in North Jersey, he was at the apex of his career renaissance. It was 2010, and Vick led an improbable fourth-quarter comeback over the New York Giants that helped the Eagles win the NFC East. It was perhaps his last great moment with the Eagles. Vick's career since that day has been marked by injuries and inconsistency. But one big difference between the 2010 Vick and the 2012 Vick has been a reshaped offensive line, both in terms of personnel and scheme.

Danny Watkins has played fewer than two NFL seasons, and yet, because of his fall from grace this year and his advanced age, he has been deemed by many to be a bust. If the lesson of Brandon Graham has taught anything it's that two seasons - one interrupted by injury - sometimes cannot be enough time to draw conclusions on draft picks. Even first-rounders. Perhaps Watkins won't ever live up to being selected 23d overall in the 2011 draft. If the right guard was to end his career today, with 18 starts of little note, then the Eagles' decision to take the then-26-year-old former firefighter with only four years of football under his utility belt could be labeled a failure.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN play in front of 70,000-plus spectators every week, with millions more watching on TV. But unless they're being flagged for a penalty or miss a block that allows their quarterback to get his brains scrambled, they rarely get noticed. That's especially true on a bad team like the Eagles. When our attention has turned to their injury-ravaged offensive line this season, it has usually been to check out the latest misadventures of King Dunlap or Demetress Bell or Danny Watkins.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and center Dallas Reynolds both started Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys despite being listed as questionable. Cox missed practice Wednesday because of a bruised tailbone and was absent Thursday and Friday because of a death in his family. Cox rejoined the team in North Texas on Saturday. He left the game in the second quarter after he reinjured his tailbone. Cox was taken to the locker room for examination but started the second half.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Bryce Brown deserves to be a featured running back for some team. Forget about the fumble for a second . . . OK, two seconds. Brown's error was a killer. His fumble which resulted in a Morris Claiborne 50-yard touchdown return cost the Eagles the game. But it shouldn't offset all the good he did for the first 56 minutes. It hammered home the fact that LeSean McCoy is still the Eagles' franchise tailback. But Brown has put on quite the display the past two weeks - both games on national television, no less - that should lead running back-needy teams to call Howie Roseman looking to deal for the rookie this offseason.