The stories Lewis tells of the Tuohy family and their welcoming of Oher into their family are heart-rending and hilarious, much like the movie. He would be chosen with the 23rd pick overall in the 2009 NFL draft to play for the Ravens, where he still plays today at left tackle.

Since that time, huge left tackles like Jonathan Ogden (formerly of the Baltimore Ravens) and Chad Clifton of the Green Bay Packers have gone from obscurity to making the second highest salary (next to the quarterback) on most NFL rosters, paving the way for Michael Oher to make it to the NFL. Enter San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh, who comes up with the idea to add a larger, more agile left tackle (the offensive player who lines up against the right defensive end) to better protect the quarterback’s so-called “blind side” (if he was right handed) from the new defensive threat. Even worse, no one could stop him thanks to his size and speed. He was the first NFL player to ‘sack’ a quarterback, and the keeping of sack statistics began thanks to Taylor. That all began to change when a player named Lawrence Taylor at right defensive end began to make quarterbacks’ lives hell on earth. The video of this moment is not for the faint of heart. Lawrence Taylor sacks Joe Theismann, breaking his right leg. But everyone can tell you where the ball was and who caught it thirty yards downfield. Ask anyone who watches football, and very few people can tell you after the game how the right guard performed, or if the right tackle made all his blocks. No player (except maybe the quarterback) was any bigger than the game. Once upon a time, offensive linemen were essentially indistinguishable from their O-line teammates. In addition to the amazing, inspiring rags to NFL riches story of Michael Oher that we all know so well from the wonderful movie named after the book, The Blind Side, Lewis offers us the idea that football as a sport has evolved over the past twenty years to make Michael Oher and his athletic gifts as a left tackle so highly prized. My belief in this maxim was only strengthened when I closed Michael Lewis’ wonderful book, The Blind Side. But as a lifelong reader, I’ve discovered that sometimes the book offers you much more than the movie ever could. One of the most common questions I was asked when people saw that I was reading this book was, “Didn’t you see the movie?” I don’t live that much under a rock. Michael Oher, Baltimore Ravens' left tackle

The blind side evolution of a game