RENTON — All season long, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has insisted that Richard Sherman was playing as well in 2014 as he ever has.
The problem was hardly anyone was noticing Sherman’s play. That’s because after the cornerback totalled 16 interceptions during the previous two seasons, twice earning first-team All-Pro honors, teams basically stopped testing him in 2014. The most dramatic example came in the season opener against Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers didn’t throw to Sherman’s side of the field once, essentially forfeiting a third of the field before the game started.
As this season went on, receivers celebrated catching a few short passes on Sherman, but for the most part teams just refused to test Sherman down the field. Even so, Seattle’s brash defensive star has enjoyed another great season, and now, thanks in part to Colin Kaepernick’s apparent amnesia when it comes to facing Seattle, Sherman is finally getting the stats to back up what has been another outstanding, albeit quiet season.
“It’s huge for him to have the opportunities,” Carroll said. “He really had three big opportunities to take the ball off of (the 49ers), and I know he was kicking himself in the locker room about the one he didn’t get. But it’s a dangerous direction to go in, because he can turn that ball around on you in a heartbeat, and he’s demonstrated that, really better than anybody in football over the last few years and you can see why.
“It’s a good reward for him for working hard and busting his tail and not getting caught up in stats and numbers and things like that. He has not wavered; I’ve said that to you for some time now, he has not wavered technique-wise, his attention to the details of how he plays and studies and prepares and all that has been impeccable. It’s a good reward.”
Sherman has three interceptions this season, though all have come in the past five games. Considering he had four interceptions in Seattle’s final three games last season, it’s possible that he could still put up big numbers to match the quality of his overall play.
Either way, what Sherman has done since coming to Seattle as a fifth-round pick in 2011 is remarkable. He began that season buried on the depth chart, not just behind starter Marcus Trufant, but also behind Walter Thurmond. In training camp, even Byron Maxwell was ahead of Sherman before being sidelined by injuries. Injuries to Trufant then Thurmond made Sherman a starter midway through the season, and since then he has 23 interceptions, putting him in elite company, trailing just Oakland’s Lester Hayes (25), Dallas’ Everson Walls (25) and Seattle’s Kenny Easley (24) for most interceptions through a player’s first four NFL seasons since 1970.
Sherman also has the most interceptions in the NFL since the start of his rookie season by a large margin, eight ahead of Tim Jennings, and has the most passes defensed in that time with 67 despite the fact that he has been one of the least targeted corners since the start of last season.
And it’s no wonder teams don’t throw Sherman’s direction often. Over the past four games, quarterbacks targeting Sherman have a 12.5 passer rating according to Pro Football Focus. To put that in perspective, consider that throwing an incomplete pass on every play gets a quarterback a passer rating of 39.6, so basically quarterbacks are significantly better off throwing the ball out of bounds or spiking it than taking their chances with Sherman.
Perhaps more impressive than any numbers Sherman does or doesn’t put up this season is his ability to maintain a consistent level of play even in games when the action isn’t coming his way.
“It’s something you try not to think about,” Sherman said. “You obviously can’t dictate the game in that way. You can’t dictate when a quarterback is going to try you and when he’s not going to try you. You just have to be prepared when those opportunities come and thankfully I was (against the 49ers).”
And just because Sherman hasn’t had a lot of passes thrown his direction this season doesn’t mean he hasn’t been staying busy. If you think you’ve seen Sherman making more tackles in the running game this season, it’s not your imagination. One of Sherman’s offseason goals was to find ways to get more involved in the run defense, and the result has been more tackles close to the line of scrimmage.
“That is something I focused on,” Sherman said. “That’s something I worked hard on in this offseason. Trying to figure out ways to improve my game and to get more involved in the run game and just play faster in that regard. Sometimes you get in the running game and you’re like you don’t know which gap he’s going to spit out of and you want it to be more disciplined and understand the run game and which gap I would fit in and which gaps the running backs are reading.”
Injury update
The Seahawks are as health as they have been since the first month of the season, with only center Max Unger (ankle/knee) ruled out and tight end Cooper Helfet (ankle) listed as doubtful. Cornerback Jeremy Lane (gluteus) is questionable after being limited in practice Friday, and both he and Helfet will work out Sunday before the game to test their injuries, Carroll said. If Lane can’t play, the Seahawks will likely again use starting cornerback Byron Maxwell as the nickel corner when they bring an extra defensive back on the field, with Tharold Simon plugging into Maxwell’s usual right cornerback spot.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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