BY Raymond Partsch III

THE DAILY IBERIAN

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TLANTA — For more than a decade, Andrew Whitworth’s experience in the playoffs ended the same exact way — with a disappointing defeat in his team’s first postseason contest.

Prior to the start of this year’s NFL postseason, the former LSU All-American was 0-for-7 in the playoffs with six of those defeats coming during the first 11 years of his career which was spent as a member of Cincinnati Bengals. In addition, all six of those defeats with the Bengals occurred during Wild Card weekend.

His first season with the Los Angeles Rams, whom he signed a three-year, $33.75 million deal with in 2017, ended the same way with yet another Wild Card round defeat as the Atlanta Falcons upset the Rams, 26-13, in Los Angeles.

“It is a lot more fun to win playoff games than to lose him,” Whitworth said this past week during Super Bowl media sessions. “There not that many guys that get the opportunity to play in the playoffs much less seven of them. But to have it finally pay off in more year and have the success we’ve had is tremendous. The most important thing I learned is to skip the Wild Card round.”

Whitworth finally got his first taste of playoff success this season when Los Angeles defeated Dallas in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, and then punched their tickets to the Super Bowl when they edged the New Orleans Saints in overtime in the NFC Championship Game, which was marred by a controversial fashion due to a late no-call.

A win over the New England Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta though would be the fitting end to one of the most respected players to ever come out of the state of Louisiana.

The Monroe native won a pair of Class 5A state championships (1998, 2000) under Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame coach Don Shows at West Monroe High School. Whitworth became one of the nation’s top recruits as he took part in the inaugural U.S. Army All-American Bowl game in 2000.

During his decorated career with LSU, Whitworth earned All-American honors as a redshirt freshman, helped the Tigers to a win over Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl to claim the BCS National Championship — the school’s first national title since 1958 — and then picked up All-SEC honors his final two seasons at LSU.

Whitworth ended his Tigers career having not allowed a sack in 22 straight games.

Drafted in the second round by Cincinnati in 2006, Whitworth would become one of the best left tackles in the league as he would earn three of his four Pro Bowl honors, and two of his three All-Pro honors, with the Bengals.

Yet, following the 2016 season, the Bengals offered their franchise left tackle a discounted deal. The franchise had drafted a few tackles and with Whitworth at that time being 35-years-old — the franchise appeared ready to move on.

Whitworth though had other suitors, including the Minnesota Vikings and Denver Broncos, and had to make a difficult decision on whether or not his professional career would end where it began.

“I knew I was going to have to either take a kind of a bargain deal from the Bengals to stay,” Whitworth said. “If you are going to make a change then don’t you just want to jump whole into something ‘hey I want to do something special at place where people say you can’t win with a guy that believes you can.’ Why not? If I am going to do this why not take the full swing. That is what really intrigued me about is that it seemed dangerous.”

Whitworth may have been the best free agent signing for the Rams in the past two seasons. The 6-foot-7, 330-pound left tackle instantly made the Rams’ shaky offensive line better, helped develop once-maligned quarterback Jared Goff into a Pro Bowler and helped the team win the NFC West title.

The now 37-year-old Whitworth, who is four years older than his head coach Sean McVay, has also proven to be one of the most durable lineman in the league. Whitworth will take the field on Sunday for his 209th game.

Yet, that doesn’t mean there weren’t times this season that the NFL’s oldest starting offensive lineman didn’t feel his age.

“I had a stretch there where it didn’t feel great, it was in my mind, it’s like ‘Oh man, getting through this season is going to be tough,’” Whitworth admitted to media this week. “Getting the playoff bye was massive, because it gave me an opportunity to be healthy again and feel great. I feel like I did before the season.”

Whitworth, a father to four, though may even be more respected for what he does off the field.

Whitworth’s BigWhit 7 Foundation has donated more than half a million dollars to schools in the northern part of the state, not to mention his charitable works have helped give scholarships to students and help families with adoptions.

This past season, Whitworth donated a game check (worth $60,000) to a fund that helped families who lost loved ones in the Thousands Oaks shooting in California, and he gave away 600 bicycles to kids an elementary school before Christmas.

Not surprisingly then that Whitworth was awarded on Thursday the Alan Page Community Service Award, which is the highest honor given by the NFL Players Association. 

“I try to do my best to be who I am every day,” Whitworth said this week. 

“If guys see that as leadership or see that as someone that they want to be around then that to me is really what leadership is.

“I believe leadership is really the ability of people wanting to walk into a room with you,” Whitworth added. ‘For them to want to take on a task with you because of the way you do things, the way you carry yourself, the way you approach life.”

Now on the eve of playing in his first Super Bowl, does Whitworth feel that his early years of playoff disappointment in Cincinnati were wasted years? Absolutely not.

“I was telling somebody before the playoffs started, it still doesn’t take anything away from the experience I’ve had,” Whitworth said earlier this week. “I’ve won five division championships, had seven opportunities prior to this to be in the playoffs and for one reason or another didn’t win those. But to get to this moment, you create a lot of pride in being proud of your football team.”