Super Bowl 2022 injury update: Rams hit with major injury
The Los Angeles Rams revealed on Friday that tight end Tyler Higbee will be placed on injured reserve. This makes him ineligible for the Super Bowl on Sunday.
#Rams placed TE Tyler Higbee on injured reserve. He won't play Super Bowl 56.
Activated RB Darrell Henderson and NT Sebastian Joseph-Day.
Higbee recorded 560 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns for the team this season. He suffered the injury during their NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Higbee suffered an MCL sprain, which many hoped might recover with enough rest, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Los Angeles will replace Higbee with Kendall Blanton, who caught 5 passes for 57 yards in their win over the 49ers. Reports out of Rams camp this week have stated that Blanton took most of the snaps in practice.
This will be a blow to their offense, which relies heavily on its passing game to move the football. Luckily for them, quarterback Matthew Stafford and his main target, Cooper Kupp, will be available on Sunday.
Kupp has been the hottest wide receiver in the NFL this year, catching 145 passes for nearly 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The Rams aren't the only team to have lost a key player prior to the Super Bowl, but history doesn't look to be in their favor.
Rams aren't the only team to lose a player before the Super Bowl
Before the 1969 Super Bowl against the New York Jets, the Baltimore Colts lost their quarterback Johnny Unitas to an injury for most of the 1968 season. He would return though, coming off the bench to play in the second half of Super Bowl III.
Unfortunately, he still hadn't fully recovered, and wasn't effective enough to lead the Colts to a comeback victory over the Jets.
M. Stafford would be the 1st QB to win a #SuperBowl in his 1st year after a trade
Closest was in '68, when Earl Morrall landed in Baltimore to replace an injured Johnny Unitas
Morrall won MVP but his Colts lost to Namath’s Jets in Super Bowl III. Morrall was benched at half
The Cincinnati Bengals also lost a key player prior to their 1989 Super Bowl appearance. Running back Stanley Wilson was unavailable due to a cocaine habit. Wilson was supposed to be getting his playbook when someone found him high on cocaine.
On the eve of the 1999 Super Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons lost safety Eugene Robinson. Robinson, who was given an award earlier that evening for his high moral character, was arrested that night for soliciting a police officer for sex.
All three of the aforementioned teams would go on to lose their respective Super Bowl games. While history doesn't seem to favor the Rams, they can take solace in the fact that their situation is the least controversial of the bunch.