RENTON — Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman made headlines following Monday night’s game by taking a few shots at Washington receiver Pierre Garcon, who, to be fair, had just two catches and who also pulled Sherman to the ground by his dreadlocks at one point.
“Pierre doesn’t matter in this league,” Sherman told reporters in Washington.
Well this week, the Seahawks are facing a receiver who definitely matters in this league when they face the Dallas Cowboys’ Dez Bryant.
“He does (matter),” Sherman said. “He actually does. He matters a great deal.
“Dez is an incredible talent. Obviously his resume speaks for itself, but he does a great job getting open, playing the ball in the air. He made a fantastic play for them last week which is indicative of what he can do when the ball is in the air.”
While the Cowboys are making headlines for their rushing attack that ranks first in the NFL this season, the Seahawks can’t put so much effort into stopping DeMarco Murray, who leads the league with 670 rushing yards. If they do, Bryant, a big play waiting to happen every time he’s on the field, is liable to burn them.
“He’s a marvelous player,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “He can make all the plays. He’s really strong; probably the thing that separates him is his strength, because he’s got terrific speed, he’s got great catching ability, range and all that, but he’s stronger than most guys so guys kind of drip off and like the great catch he made at the end of the game this past week, that was just muscling through the play because the ball should’ve been knocked out, but he found a way to make a phenomenal catch to set up their win.”
And while a Sherman vs. Bryant matchup would be fun to see, if Seattle’s recent games are any indicator, Sherman may not see a lot of Bryant, as teams have frequently put their best receivers on the other side of the field to avoid Seattle’s All-Pro corner. If Dallas uses that strategy, Byron Maxwell says he’ll welcome the challenge.
“He’s physical, he’s fast, he’s just a great athlete,” Maxwell said. “He’s hard to cover, you know? It’s a big challenge, but I’m definitely excited though.”
A couple of players in Seattle’s locker room know Bryant better than the rest of their teammates having a history with the Cowboys’ leading receiver. Left tackle Russell Okung, Bryant’s teammate at Oklahoma State, noticed Bryant’s talent and physical ability was at another level from the first day he stepped on the practice field as a freshman.
Safety Earl Thomas goes even further back with Bryant, having played against him in high school all-star games, then again in college. Thomas sees Bryant’s growth into being one of the NFL’s top receivers as being more than just his physical skills.
“He’s been through a lot in his childhood,” Thomas said. “I think a player like that, when you’ve been through a lot, you start to see what your talent is capable of as you go through the different stages. You don’t know what you’re capable of, and he’s getting his confidence back from college when he got suspended. He’s slowly started to progress to be that Dez Bryant that he was.
“I played him in high school in all-star games, we’re on Team Jordan together, so we have a lot of conversations about wanting to be great, and he wants to be in the Hall of Fame. He’s one of those types of players where we have to know where he is at all times.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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