The quiet life: If Carolina OT Michael Oher isn’t mentioned, he’s doing his job

The most well-known offensive lineman in the NFL has hardly been heard from this season.

That’s a good thing for the Carolina Panthers – and for Michael Oher.

The Panthers’ left tackle entered the league in 2009 a few months before the release of “The Blind Side,” the movie that chronicled Oher’s rags-to-riches story and grossed nearly $256 million in the U.S.

Oher, who signed with the Panthers during the offseason after a disappointing one-year stint in Tennessee, never sought the attention and has said the film made him a target by creating expectations that other linemen didn’t face.

But nine games into his first season in Charlotte, Oher is basking in the glow of anonymity. Nobody’s talking much about Oher because he’s protected Cam Newton’s blind side like a Pinkerton.

Oher has played every offensive snap and has allowed three sacks entering Sunday’s game against Washington (4-5), according to Pro Football Focus.

The analytics site ranks Oher as the NFL’s 10th-best left tackle in terms of pass blocking efficiency, with Oher allowing no other hits on Newton other than the sacks.

PFF is less enthusiastic about Oher’s run-blocking – rating him last among the 74 tackles who have played at least 25 percent of their team’s snaps.

But given the swinging door that was Byron Bell, who gave up 11 sacks in 2014 in his only season as Carolina’s left tackle, the Panthers are happy with the job Oher has done.

And on a 9-0 Panthers team featuring supersized personalities such as quarterback Cam Newton and cornerback Josh Norman, Oher has been happy to cede the spotlight.

“I’m just working, man,” Oher said this week. “I’m just playing football and just enjoying the ride with these guys.”

If the Panthers’ ride rolls all the way to the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., Oher will be asked to share his story repeatedly, as was the case when he won a Super Bowl ring with Baltimore after the 2012 season.

In the meantime, Oher is content to play a supporting role for the NFC’s best team.

‘Not the movie Mike’

Panthers defensive tackle Dwan Edwards was with Baltimore when the Ravens drafted Oher in the first round in 2009. While “The Blind Side” had yet to come out, most were familiar with Oher because of Michael Lewis’ best-selling book of the same name.

“I’m sure he got sick of talking about it for a time up there,” Edwards said. “I’m sure he wants to be known for his play on the field as opposed to his story.”

Panthers tight end Ed Dickson, who also played with Oher in Baltimore, said a lot of the Ravens’ veterans referred to Oher as “Blind Side.”

“People already thought they knew him before getting to know him,” Dickson said. “That’s one thing you can probably see from his perspective: Get to know the real Mike. Not the movie Mike, but the Mike that everybody learned to love.”

Oher’s story is well-known by now. He grew up in Memphis, Tenn., as one of 12 children born to a woman with an addiction to crack.

Oher and his siblings lived in various housing projects – even sleeping in a car for a month – and were shuffled through various foster programs. Oher was adopted by the Tuohys, a wealthy white family that provided him with the tutoring help necessary to qualify academically for college.

Michael Lewis grew up with Sean Tuohy in New Orleans and met Oher while the “Moneyball” author was beginning work on a book that explored the value of the left tackle position in football.

“The Blind Side,” starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw as Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, earned an Academy Award nomination for best picture and brought Bullock the Oscar for best actress.

But it portrayed Oher as a slow, simple teenager who had seemingly never picked up a ball before being accepted at Briarcrest Christian in suburban Memphis.

In fact, Briarcrest basketball coach John Harrington remembers Oher picking up a basketball during his first visit to the school – and proceeding to drain three 3-pointers from the corner.

Harrington remembers thinking, “My goodness, that boy’s got a great stroke, (and) he’s 6-5, 350.”

Sports were his escape

Oher said sports were his escape from the gangs and drugs that plagued the Hurt Village projects in Memphis, which was why he was frustrated with the movie’s depiction of him as an athletic neophyte.

“That’s the only problem I always had with it. Because that’s all I had growing up was sports, really,” Oher said. “Sports is what got to me to where I am. I’ve always understood the game of football, basketball, just anything really. That’s all we did in the neighborhood was sports.”

Oher pitched for the baseball team at his original high school and later threw the discus and starred for Briarcrest’s basketball team. Oher was a finalist for Mr. Basketball in Tennessee in 2005, when former North Carolina forward Brandan Wright won the award.

Leigh Anne Tuohy said “Blind Side” director John Lee Hancock used Oher’s sports background as an analogy to demonstrate the strides Oher made in the classroom after four hours of tutoring four nights a week.

While Oher’s early high school grades were bad, Dickson said Oher is not the oafish character from the film.

“It was a good movie. ... But a guy wouldn’t have made it that far if he didn’t have any kinds of brains on top of his head,” Dickson said. “Talking to Mike for five minutes, you knew he was a very bright individual.”

Early to rise

Panthers wide receiver Ted Ginn says he arrives at Bank of America Stadium around 7 each morning. He’s never beaten Oher to work.

“Mike is already here. He’s gotten in the hot tub, the shower or finishing up the little things he does in the morning. He’s a pro,” Ginn said. “It ain’t about who you are and what you say out your mouth. It’s about who you are and what you do. And that’s one person that I can really say don’t ever judge his book by its cover. Open it up and read it first.”

Oher wrote his own book in 2011, called “I Beat the Odds,” which went into more detail about his childhood and his mother’s struggles with addiction.

Oher has had an on-and-off relationship with his mother, Denise Oher, over the years. He declined to discuss the subject when asked about his mom last week.

Oher also had little to say about last week’s win against Tennessee, which released Oher in February a year after signing him to a four-year, $20 million contract.

Oher, who received a two-year, $7 million deal from the Panthers, is healthy after being slowed with a toe injury in 2014 that required surgery after the season.

He gave up six sacks and 26 quarterback hurries in 11 games at right tackle for the Titans last season before going on injured reserve for the first time in his career.

In nine games this season, Oher has allowed the three sacks and 11 hurries, according to PFF.

Panthers coach Ron Rivera says Oher hasn’t received much credit despite playing well and keeping Newton from taking a lot of backside hits.

“People have to remember he’s going against their best (pass rusher),” Rivera said. “We do a lot of things different. We have a very active quarterback that you really have to have a feel to know where he is. As he continues to work through it, he’s getting more and more used to that guy back there.”

Edwards, Oher’s teammate in Baltimore, said Oher has brought toughness to Carolina’s offensive line.

“He competes every day,” Edwards said. “Since he got here he’s been playing well and he works his butt off. I’ve seen that since he was a rookie in Baltimore.”

No movie memorabilia

After the Panthers signed Oher in March, Rivera joked with Oher that he could introduce him to Bullock.

The only problem: Oher’s never met Bullock, either.

And you won’t find any “Blind Side” memorabilia at either of Oher’s residences in Charlotte or Nashville.

“I don’t know, there might be a poster somewhere,” Oher said. “I’m not sure.”

Oher said it’s not as if he doesn’t like the movie. He just didn’t love the attention that came with it.

“It was a great movie and reached a lot of people,” he said. “It’s just me being an offensive lineman at the end of the day, just wanting to be humble.”

Harrington, Oher’s high school basketball coach, said when Oher would return to Memphis during the offseason his first couple of years in the NFL he’d head straight to Oxford, Miss., where Oher was an All-American at Mississippi.

Oher would “just get some food and hole himself in an apartment,” Harrington said. “He wasn’t in the limelight. You wouldn’t find him on Beale Street or at the gala events or anything like that. He’s just a down-to-earth kid.”

Leigh Anne Tuohy said while Oher didn’t seek the spotlight, he has handled fame well.

“You can walk up to anybody and they can’t name an offensive lineman. I mean, who the hell knows who offensive linemen are?” Tuohy said. “But they all know Michael. It’s a lot. He carries way more than we do and I just know what we deal with. You’re scrutinized more and there’s more expected of you. And he has done an unbelievable job of being a good kid and doing the right thing.”

Collins Tuohy, who was a cheerleader at Ole Miss when her adopted brother played there, now runs a high-end cookie shop in Memphis. Every Friday she sends five or six dozen cookies to Oher, who shares them with teammates in the locker room on Mondays.

Oher recently sent Collins a picture of Newton holding a box of her Whimsy cookies.

“The guys love ‘em,” Oher said.

A steady presence

The guys also have taken to Oher for his unassuming demeanor and his steady play on Sundays.

“He could have one of those larger-than-life personalities but he prefers not to, which I think is kind of neat,” Rivera said. “He has his own story to tell, people know the story and I think it’s a tremendous story. I think it’s a testament to his character and his personality. But at the same time I still see the humble side.”

Dickson remains close with Oher from their time in Baltimore. He said Oher’s the type of friend who would pick you up at midnight if your car were stranded.

“Just like the movie showed, Mike’s very family oriented. If you’re in his inner circle, he’s going to go over and above for you. Mike’s that type of guy,” Dickson said.

“You can’t be fake with Mike because Mike’s been through a hard time. Mike’s been through the ups-and-downs so he knows when you’re (snowing) him. There’s a lot of fake people in the world, but Mike’s a real friend.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "The quiet life: If Carolina OT Michael Oher isn’t mentioned, he’s doing his job."