The talk around the NFC Championship may have been all about the Packers’ historic collapse, but the significance of Richard Sherman’s elbow injury shouldn’t be underestimated heading into Super Bowl XLIX.
As we all know, Sherman is a premier cornerback, and hauled in a critical touchdown against the Packers in the first quarter of the NFC title game. He and the rest of the Legion of Boom are a big reason why the Seahawks-Patriots matchup this year is the tightest NFL Super Bowl betting line in memory. That is, if he’s 100%.
Sherman hyperextended his elbow against the Pack, and it was later revealed that his elbow was sprained. That’s good news if you were worried about the All-Pro playing in the big game, but it’s still not clear how functional he’ll be against one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
Sherman returned to the game against Green Bay, but was not targeted in the second half, when he was playing obviously injured, with his left arm bent throughout.
Even a one-armed Sherman is a big time player, but without the threat of the pick, Sherman could still be a liability for the Seahawks against the Patriots. It doesn’t help that Sherman’s fellow secondary star, Earl Thomas, is also hurt. It’s hard to imagine either player matching up against a beast like Rob Gronkowski at less than full health, and even harder to imagine mastermind Bill Belichick won’t game plan to go after the injured Seattle cover unit.