Michael Oher Blames ‘The Blind Side’ For His Misfortunes

In the offseason, the Carolina Panthers signed veteran Michael Oher. However, one thing seems to follow the former first round pick — the Sandra Bullock film The Blind Side.

Michael Oher Blames ‘The Blind Side’

Michael Oher’s childhood was made into a very successful book,The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, by famous sports author Michael Lewis, the man also behind Moneyball. Eventually, the book was sold to Alcon Entertainment and made into a film starring Sandra Bullock. And the movie, which cost roughly $29 million, was a huge success for Warner Brothers, making over $309 million worldwide. It even garnered Bullock, who portrayed Oher’s sassy guardian Leigh Anne Tuohy, her first Academy Award.

However, Oher never liked the film and criticized the way he was portrayed, saying it made him look more like Boo Radley than a high school football stud. And now six years later, he is still answering questions about the picture, which he blames for his failures in Baltimore and Tennessee.

“I’m not trying to prove anything,” Oher told the media. “People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They don’t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That’s why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field. This stuff, calling me a bust, people saying if I can play or not… has nothing to do with football. It’s something else off the field. That’s why I don’t like that movie.”

Oher was originally drafted by the Baltimore Ravens with the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 draft. While he did help protect QB Joe Flacco’s ‘blind side’ during their 2012 Super Bowl run, the Ravens did not re-sign the tackle after 2013. This resulted in him signing a five-year deal worth $20 million with the Tennessee Titans. However, after a nagging toe injury kept him off the field — he played in only eleven games — the struggling AFC South team cut him this offseason.

Since then, he signed a two-year deal worth $7 million with the Panthers and looks to put the film behind him so he can play better football. “[The Blind Side has] taken away from my football,” Oher told the press. “That’s why people criticize me. That’s why people look at me every single play.”