This years Super Bowl has all the components to make for a great game. You have two of the most likable quarterbacks in the league facing off, great receiving cores, and for the second year in a row, one team has home field advantage.
While those are all great aspects of Super Bowl LVI, I think that there are many others that the media won’t highlight as much.
The first being that the Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth is making his second Super Bowl appearance, this time against his former squad the Cincinnati Bengals. Whitworth was drafted in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Bengals where he made multiple All Pro teams and Pro Bowl rosters.
In the spring of 2017, Whitworth became a free agent. He is still the active leader in games started for the Bengals with 164.
Whitworth signed with the Los Angeles Rams and quickly turned their offensive line around as they were named as the Built Ford Tough Offensive Line of the Year in 2018. Now, the LSU alum is 40 years old and what he’s doing is, I think, more impressive than what Tom Brady did at 44 and here is why.
In November of last season, the storied pass protector tore his MCL and damaged his PCL against Seattle. At his age and position, this would traditionally be a deathblow to any players career, but not Whitworth. He rehabbed back and has been the Rams starting left tackle for fifteen games in 2021-2022.
Along with what makes this Andrew Whitworth so juicy is the fact that in the fifteen games he’s played in this year, he’s been pretty good. He allowed 5 sacks in a division with elite pass rushers like Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, and Chandler Jones.
This seems as if this upcoming Sunday may be Whitworths last game and he’s looking to go out on a high note with a Super Bowl win against the team that drafted him in his home stadium.
To backpedal a little bit to Whitworths injury, when he was at rehab he took the Bengals rookie quarterback, Joe Burrow, under his wing. Burrow, a fellow LSU alum, tore his ACL in week eleven against Washington.
With Burrow not knowing many people at rehab, Whitworth went out of his way to befriend him. The two would watch NFL games together on Sundays. The two became so close that Burrow spent his birthday at Whitworths home with him and his family.
Just another cool note about this Sundays game that won’t get too much attention.
While there are many great storylines, we did lose out on one that would have pleased all the women across America. If the 49ers had won, we would have had the two most handsome quarterbacks in football square off in Joe Shiesty “BRRRR” against Jimmy Garoppolo.
There’s no real relationship between the two players other than that they’re handsome, but it would have been cool. That would probably be covered by every media outlet.
The final storyline in Super Bowl LVI is one that is near and dear to the hearts of many Americans.
Last week on Pardon My Take, the Award Winning Listeners heard Big Cat and PFT interview Bengals pass rusher Sam Hubbard. Hubbard has been a key factor in the Bengals success as he as tallied 59 tackles, 7.5 sacks, and 2 fumble recoveries in the regular season. He also had a clutch sack against the Chiefs to force overtime in the AFC Championship.
In the interview, Hubbard was asked by PFT about the Bengals Super Bowl run and if they’re playing this Super Bowl for Harambe.
Harambe was a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo. He was killed in March of 2016 when a child fell into the gorilla enclosure and Harambe grabbed the child and brought him through the water. He was shot and killed due to the child’s safety. It was a sad day.
In the meantime, Sam Hubbard a Cincinnati native was playing football at Ohio State so he has always been around Harambe. He answered the question by saying “That’s our guy, that’s our hero”. He followed it up with “We’re doing this for him”.
Hubbard also mentioned that he would have stopped Harambe being shot if he was in the gorilla enclosure at the time which would have saved America a great deal of grieving.
If the Bengals win, it’ll be a big day for the city of Cincinnati and for their beloved, sweet prince.