Injuries & Oddities: Super Bowl Update 3 (UPDATED)

January 31, 2015

Hey everyone! We’re counting down the hours to Super Bowl XLIX, so it’s time for another Injuries & Oddities! And here it is, once AGAIN condensed into a picture by resident artist, Bobby Pierson:

WHAT??? STILL not good enough for you? OK, then how about this:

Richard Sherman

OK, enough about the torn ligaments in his elbow already, we all know he’s going to play and would have played even if he had 0 functional arms. He’s clearly some sort of cyborg from the future that has come to our time to demonstrate how futile it is to pass the football to the right side of the field.

I was going to add a picture of the “Sherminator” from American Pie 2, since it seemed to fit seeing as how we’re talking about Richard Sherman as a cyborg, but then I thought better of it since no one needs to be reminded of the “Sherminator.”

Oops. My bad. Anyway, what we haven’t discussed enough yet (at least not here) is Ashley Moss, Sherman’s nine month pregnant girlfriend. Yup, she’s due on February 12, but is still in Arizona for the Super Bowl. I doubt she’ll be sitting in the stands, but I’m fairly certain her hospital bed will be really close by. Sherman hasn’t committed to whether he would leave the big game if his girlfriend goes into labor early, but Ashley has hinted to King 5 News in Washington what would happen:

“I guess we’ll have a Super Bowl baby and if you see Richard heading for the locker room right after it hits zero in the fourth quarter, don’t be surprised.”

Of course, football players normally head to the locker room after the game is over, so it’s a little unclear how much of a hint this was. She might as well have said:

“I guess we’ll have a Super Bowl baby and if you see Richard drink Gatorade on Sunday, don’t be surprised.”

Baby Mama Drama!

Kam Chancellor

NY Post Photo

Uh oh. Kam Chancellor was a late addition on Friday to the Seattle injury report. According to Peter King of Pro Football Writers of America, on the second-to-last play of practice:

“Strong safety Kam Chancellor fell near the goal line, was helped up, then missed the final play of practice. He left the field after practice without a limp but with his left knee wrapped.”

Eek. Doesn’t sound terribly serious, and he’s still listed as probable on the Friday injury report, but Seahawks fans will have to hold their breaths as they wait for an update this weekend.

UPDATE – Jan. 31, 2015 – 5:40 PM

According to ESPN, Chancellor looked good after the walk-through on Saturday and is still listed as probable. Pete Carroll told Emily Kaplan of Pro Football Writers of America:

“[Chancellor] looked pretty good today. We will make sure we test him in pregame, but he remarkably looked great today and so that’s all we have to go on.”

Alright, Seahawks fans. You can all exhale now.

Akeem Ayers

Only one Patriot was added to the injury report on Thursday, and that was Linebacker Akeem Ayers (knee).

Ayers is not a huge part of the Patriots defense, but has recorded 22 tackles and four sacks since being acquired from Tennessee in October. However, he only logged 11 snaps on defense and special teams in the AFC title game against the Colts. So yeah, this is unlikely to matter, and I might have wasted about 10 seconds of your life by reporting it. But just in case you happen to be an Ayers fan or related to Ayers, he was listed as probable on the Friday injury report.

Bryan Stork

SI.com Photo

The Patriots starting center is listed as questionable with a knee injury after being limited on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The rookie is not a “great” player yet, but he’s developed pretty well since being instilled as the starter and consistency at center is important. Plus, he’s definitely better than anyone else New England has. It could be a concern if he’s not 100% for the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady

He still has a cold and was still a full participant in practice. He’s also listed as probable on the Friday injury report. I guess that garlic is working.

Thank goodness.

UPDATE – Jan. 31, 2015 – 5:40 PM

The Patriots decided to cancel their Saturday walk-through, so other than learning that Bryan Stork has been upgraded to probable, no further updates are likely to be available on the players. Belichick told the pool report: