Richard Sherman: ‘There’s no love lost, there’s no love found’

You’re not going to believe this, but Richard Sherman was very comfortable in front of a large media contingent Wednesday, soaking in the extra attention that comes with the NFC championship game.

And just as predictable, Sherman was asked plenty of questions about the rival 49ers and their coach Jim Harbaugh, who of course coached Sherman at Stanford.

“There’s no love lost, there’s no love found,” he said of the 49ers, “That’s how I’d characterize it. It’s going to be intense, it’s going to be physical. I don’t know if there’s going to be handshakes after this one.”

Asked if there was hate between the teams, Sherman said not on his end: “I don’t hate anybody, but passion definitely. There will be some passion, there will be some dislike—some strong dislike—and there will be some intensity. It’s playoff football, so even if we weren’t two teams that are very familiar with each other, it’s playoff football, so there’s going to be a lot of intensity, a lot of chippiness, and it’s going to be a hard-fought game.”

Among other topics, Sherman also talked a bit about how Pete Carroll let’s players be themselves, something that wasn’t really the case at Stanford with Harbaugh in charge.

In other words, Sherman’s media sessions were a little less fun then than now.

“You just don’t say as much, you keep it simple,” he said. “‘Do you think you guys are going to win?’ ‘I think it’s going to be a tough battle.’ You shorten your answers, you make sure it doesn’t get too elongated, you don’t go long-winded. You keep it short.”