Matt O'Dwyer (born September 1, 1972) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1995 to 2005. A 6-foot-4, 315-pound lineman out of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, O'Dwyer played for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

(1995–1998), the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

(1999–2003), and the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

(2004). He blocked on lines that produced a 1,000-yard rusher in seven of his 10 NFL seasons (

Adrian Murrell Adrian Byran Murrell (born October 16, 1970) is a former professional American football running back. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 1993 NFL Draft after playing collegiately for the West Virginia Mountaineers. ...

1996–1997,

Curtis Martin Curtis James Martin Jr. (born May 1, 1973) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He spent his first three seasons with the New England Patrio ...

1998 and

Corey Dillon Corey James Dillon (born October 24, 1974) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots. Dillon played college football at Washing ...

1999–2002). He also helped Dillon to break

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American football running back who played ...

's single-game NFL record, a 278-yard performance vs.

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, October 22, 2000 (since surpassed by

Jamal Lewis Jamal Lewis (born August 26, 1979) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. He played college football at Tennessee and was s ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...

in 2007). Selected by the Jets as the first pick in the second round (33rd overall) of the

1995 NFL Draft The 1995 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1995 at the Paramount Th ...

, O'Dwyer started 64 consecutive games at

for the Jets (1996–1998) and Bengals (1999). In 2002, he was Cincinnati's only player on the field for every snap. Overall, O'Dwyer played 122

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

games (105 starts), as well as two

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

starts, both in 1998 when the Jets nearly advanced to

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Atlan ...

. O'Dwyer was known for his tough style of play; he was one of the most penalized players in the NFL in 1997. After playing for the Buccaneers in 2004, O'Dwyer was signed by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in 2005, but he was cut at the beginning of the season. He retired from the NFL on September 1, 2006. He lives in

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. O'Dwyer appeared in the

Jon Favreau Jonathan Kolia Favreau (; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as ''Rudy (film), Rudy'' (1993), ''PCU (film), PCU'' (1994), ''Swingers (1996 film), Swingers'' (1996), ''Very ...

Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. Vaughn began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 comedy-drama film '' Swingers''. He has appeared in ...

movie ''

Made Made or MADE may refer to: Entertainment Film * ''Made'' (1972 film), United Kingdom * ''Made'' (2001 film), United States Music * ''Made'' (Big Bang album), 2016 * ''Made'' (Hawk Nelson album), 2013 * ''Made'' (Scarface album), 2007 *'' M.A.D.E. ...

'' with fellow NFL player Jason Fabini & future ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'' star

Federico Castelluccio Federico Castelluccio (; ; born April 29, 1964) is an American actor and painter. He is best known for his role as Furio Giunta on the HBO series ''The Sopranos''. Early life Born in Naples, Italy, Castelluccio moved with his family to Paterson, ...

as doormen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odwyer, Matt 1972 births Living people People from Lincolnshire, Illinois Players of American football from Lake County, Illinois American football offensive guards Northwestern Wildcats football players New York Jets players Cincinnati Bengals players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players