Two weeks after he inherited the title of “oldest player in the NFL” from Tom Brady, Andrew Whitworth got a small taste of what it’s like to be Brady.
Whitworth was picking up teammates like Odell Beckham Jr. and Eric Weddle in the confetti celebration Sunday after the Rams defeated the Bengals, 23-20, in Super Bowl 2022 to give the 40-year-old left tackle his first-ever championship and a likely retirement gift.
The Rams struggled to generate any rushing attack, but a one-dimensional offense still succeeded with Whitworth protecting Matthew Stafford’s blind side. Stafford passed for 270 yards and three touchdowns and was sacked just twice.
“He helped the Robins,” Rams general manager Les Snead said on NFL Network. “We’ve got a lot of Batmans. These guys help the Robins do their part.”
The 16th season of Whitworth’s career finished with a win over the team with whom he spent his first 11 seasons, never winning a playoff game in four appearances before he left in free agency. Brady (a seven-time champion) and Jerry Rice (a three-time champion) are the only Super Bowl starters ever older than Whitworth.
“Any time a team kind of doubts you and you go somewhere else and you end up in Year 16 playing them in the Super Bowl, what an inspiration,” Whitworth said on NFL Network. “I didn’t need any more to play in the Super Bowl, but that gave me a little boost.”
If that five-year-delayed revenge wasn’t sweet enough, the Super Bowl win comes just three days after he was named the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year for his work with schools in the greater Los Angeles community.
Retirement rumors are swirling around the Rams — could head coach Sean McVay and defensive tackle Aaron Donald both be on the way out? — but Whitworth is most likely to go even if he has yet to make up his mind.
“There’s two franchises that didn’t win many games before I got there, and now here they are, both in Super Bowls,” Whitworth said in the lead-up to the game. “And what a better way than to walk off and say, ‘job’s done.’ ”