RENTON — Adrenaline is a powerful force.
Without it, Richard Sherman sounded like anyone else on Wednesday — anyone other than what the Seattle Seahawks’ three-time All-Pro sounded like 10 days earlier.
On Oct. 2, Sherman was moments removed from finishing off a two-interception game shadowing star Brandon Marshall of the New York Jets. He said then he couldn’t wait to face Atlanta Falcons’ All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones this Sunday at CenturyLink Field.
Wednesday, four days before Seattle (3-1) returns from its bye to host Atlanta (4-1) in a showdown of division leaders, Sherman was as bland as Saltines about the faceoff.
“Yeah, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fun matchup for our defense to go against their offense,” Sherman said.
“Blah, blah, blah, blah.”
He didn’t actually finish with that. But in tone, expression and meaning, he may as well have.
The same day Sherman had his first two-interception game in three years against the Jets, Jones was scorching Carolina. He became the sixth NFL player to ever have 300 yards receiving in a game.
“I heard Julio went off,” Sherman said Oct. 2. “That’d be fun. Three hundred? That’s what he had? That’s going to be a big deal. He’s a good friend and it’s going to be a fun matchup battling him.”
The question of whether the Seahawks’ defense will or won’t have Sherman shadow Jones Sunday renews what’s been a semi-regular topic the last two seasons.
For years critics of the star cornerback complained he generally stayed to his assigned left side of the field covering whomever came that way.
Defensive coordinator Kris Richard, Sherman’s promoted defensive backs coach in Seattle, has put Sherman on foes’ top receivers in his two seasons scheming the Seahawks’ defense more than his predecessor did. That was Dan Quinn, now the Falcons’ head coach.
When safety Kam Chancellor was holding out and nickel back Jeremy Lane was injured in September 2015, Sherman moved inside to the nickel against slot receiver Randall Cobb at Green Bay. He began shadowing top wide receivers all over the field in earnest opposite A.J. Green at Cincinnati in October. He limited Dez Bryant at Dallas in November, Antonio Brown of Pittsburgh after Thanksgiving. Sherman didn’t shadow anyone in the first three games of this season. That’s because the relatively tepid offenses the Seahawks faced then didn’t have a lone, top receiver that warranted his full attention.
But the Jets’ Marshall did in game four.
Marshall, whom Sherman calls a Hall-of-Fame caliber player, jumped with the cornerback at the end of the first half for a touchdown catch. It seemed to embolden New York’s Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw more at Sherman.
Sherman got his revenge: two interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Now comes Jones with Atlanta’s league-best passing game and highest-scoring offense. The three-time Pro Bowl receiver co-led the NFL last season with 136 catches for a league-high 1,871 yards. He has 24 catches through five games this season. His average of 21.5 yards per reception leads the NFC.
So there is no reason the Seahawks won’t have Sherman on him all over CenturyLink Field on Sunday. Maybe not for the entire game, but for its most important parts.
Not that the Seahawks are saying so.
“We just take a bucket full of thoughts and decide what seems to fit best,” is all coach Pete Carroll would say Wednesday.
Asked when he finds out he’s going to be shadowing, Sherman said “sometimes I find out in the middle of the game.” That’s what happened last fall at Cincinnati, after now-gone cornerback Cary Williams had all kinds of coverage issues early in that game.
Carroll offered a reason why Sherman didn’t track a single receiver in his early seasons under Quinn or his predecessor as Seattle’s defensive coordinator in 2011 and ’12, Gus Bradley.
“I think just over the course of time, getting flipped over on the other side early on when he was just playing on the left side, he just had more opportunity to become comfortable,” Carroll, a former defensive back, said. “It’s different. It’s not the exact same. It feels different when the ball is in the air, particularly on the deep ball, and guys have to get accustomed to that.
“He is there; he can do all that now. But it’s also not just him. It has to do with the other guys. If the other player is flipping (in this season’s case opposite cornerback DeShawn Shead) that’s part of the variable also.
“We’re at a point where we can do whatever we need to do now.”
Jones’ dozen catches in shredding of Carolina two weeks ago not only cost defensive back Bene Benwikere his job, the Panthers cut the veteran defensive back from their team days later. Last weekend, Jones had just two catches in six targets for 29 yards as the Broncos played a combination man-to-man with a cornerback underneath with two safeties patrolling deep zones behind (“two-man” coverage). But as Sherman noted, the Falcons rolled up 122 yards rushing instead and routed the defending Super Bowl champions; the final score was 23-16 but Atlanta led 23-6 in the fourth quarter.
Like Sherman, Jones downplayed their likely faceoff.
“Just expect everything,” Jones said. “You expect to be followed, or if they don’t follow you. You have to be prepared for everything.
“If that’s what they think is going to slow me down or give them the best chance at being successful, that’s what they’re going to do. I’m not their coach to decide that. It’s whatever they do. I’m not calling anyone out or anything, nor am I going to shy away from competition.
“I’m definitely going to compete every play. It doesn’t matter who’s guarding me.”
Jones was drafted sixth overall when Atlanta traded what seemed like half its franchise plus the Georgia Dome to get him in 2011. Seattle drafted Sherman in the fifth round that same year.
Sherman has befriended Jones at previous Pro Bowls, and their agents share the same management company.
“We’ve connected throughout. We’ve connected at Pro Bowl, at various events, at Super Bowls. We had some great conversations, he and I and (Houston receiver DeAndre) Hopkins sat down and had a pretty good chat, just about ball and growing and life.
“He’s a fascinating dude.”
Sunday, when that adrenaline returns, is going to be a fascinating game with the game.
“I would say they’ll probably see that match up a few times,” Quinn said. “I’d say what the fans should expect is two real dog competitors wanting to go battle for it. That’s one of coolest parts about our game, when you get to compete at the highest level. Really, two technicians and guys who work with their craft.
“I watch the wide-receiver play in Julio he’s one the very greatest football minds at his position. He has a real understanding of the game, the coverage, the leverage. And that was one of the things when I first met Sherm, that I was so impressed with his football knowledge growing stronger through the years.
“That’ll be a classic matchup that were looking forward to being a part of.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
