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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – C.J. Uzomah’s status for Sunday’s Super Bowl is still up in the air as he deals with a sprained MCL but the Cincinnati Bengals tight end said on Thursday he feels great and expects to play in the biggest game of his life.
Uzomah, who has not played since he was carted off the field early during the Jan. 30 AFC Championship Game, did not practice on Wednesday but was set to join his team mates on Thursday where his progress will be evaluated.
“I feel good. As good as I can given the circumstances,” Uzomah told reporters. “In my head I’m not missing the biggest game of my life so we’ll see how it feels today when I go out there. Were having really big strides in the right direction.”
Uzomah enjoyed a breakout regular season during which he set a career-high for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns, and his return would be a big boost for a Bengals team seeking the first Super Bowl championship in franchise history.
He carried that form into the post-season before suffering the injury in the AFC Championship Game that left him on the sideline using crutches.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Uzomah is invaluable to the team and praised his tight end for the positivity, energy and leadership he brings to the team.
“He always does his job. He’s the same guy every day, when he walks in the building we know what we are going to get out of C.J.,” said Taylor.
“He’s always upbeat, always encouraging and you feel his energy during the game and he’s been a huge part of this team over the last several years and we are especially lucky to have him this year.”
Uzomah has certainly made plenty of progress since the AFC Championship Game and showed as much when he enthusiastically tore off his leg brace this week to the delight Bengals fans at a fan rally before the team departed for Los Angeles.
It marked a far cry from what was going through his mind as he left the AFC Championship Game in tears.
“I was thinking ‘shit I am not going to be able to play for the rest of this game and possibly the Super Bowl so this sucks’ and that’s why I was crying,” said Uzomah.
“It hurt, I was just bummed that there was a possibility that I wouldn’t be able to play and might need surgery and all the things that come with that.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
