Sherman's Play?

I know I might sound like I'm overreacting a bit, but to me it looks luke Sherman is playing against the big play on D. Where's the press coverage we saw last year?

https://vine.co/v/OaIzdWiEF9P

He's making it so easy to hate on him if you're not a hawks fan.

He only gave up like 3 or so catches. I don't see how that's "Exposing" him.

It's a legitimate discussion, even if the OP is obviously trolling.

Sherman didn't just get juked on that play. I watched him closely and there were many times Rivers went to someone else, but Allen was open, having juked Sherman exactly the same way on exactly the same move. I got to wondering why was Sherman doing that? Was he covering for something else? Giving up that slant to prevent getting burnt deep? Why not just jam him at the line of scrimmage like they used to do?

And yeah, Sherman "just" gave up three receptions. They went for 25 yards, meaning 8.33 ypc. Anyone care to know what Rivers passer rating was against Sherman? Pretty damned good.

EDIT: Per PFF, Sherman was targeted 6 times for 54 yards. That's 9.0 YPAA. And if he only gave up three receptions on those 6 targets, that would be 18 ypc.

Is that a knock on Sherman? No. But he wasn't his normal self either. One has to take into account there are special circumstances here. It's the first time he'd been targeted since the new LOB rule came into affect.

It would have been comforting to know that the LOB rule didn't have any impact on Shermans game, expecially after that huge payday we just gave him. But yesterdays game left that door open. Now we'll have to wait to see how he plays from here on out to get an idea of how much of his game, if any, he's lost due to it.

Personally, I think it was a gameplan he was playing to that backfired, plus the heat, plus Sherman has had trouble with certain types of receivers in the past, like Hilton, and that could have played into it. But no matter what the reason, he didn't look good out there yesterday.

Practically every time I saw Sherman before the snap he was backing off five, six, seven yards and giving the WR a free release. It sure looked like the defensive gameplan was "keep everything in front of you and don't give up the big play." Which could have worked if we hadn't spent the whole first half giving up big gains on first and second down and letting them have 3rd & 1, 3rd & 2 so often.

This reminds me of when Ichiro would go 1 for 4 per game over a four game series, and people wondered "Whats wong with Ichiro??" The answer is, he's human. He's still among the best, but good grief it's not like the guy got abused out there. He had a couple nice routes run against him for completions, it's going to happen. The hype machine got a bit out of control, to the point where we expect him to not have anything completed on his side of the field. Being a "shutdown corner" doesn't mean never giving up a completion.

It's an odd one - Allen "juked" Sherman in that gif, but he doesn't try to track him until the ball is going his way - we'll never know for sure if he is in a zone assignment to guard the sideline (which is what it looks like to me).

As for giving up 4 receptions for 54 yards, there's definitely one reception being credited "against Sherman" when KJ Wright was the defender, so that's 3/6 for 40, which against one of 2013's top 5 offenses is hardly terrible.

In any case though, I can't understand why, lined up on 3rd and 5 like that, Sherman isn't in press coverage, bump and run and throw off their timing - they're not going to throw it long there, it's not what they do.

That's on Dan Quinn.

0 explosives, 0 TDs. San Diego's WRs barely impacted this game. Rivers won this game with Gates and short passes to his RBs.

The "keep everything in front of you" philosophy has worked for three years and would have worked here if we kept them out of the endzone. They can keep the ball for 40 minutes, but if we limit them to FGs (which Seattle is normally excellent at), then San Diego loses. Unfortunately, our LBs and safeties had no answer for Gates.

It actually looked to me as though Sherman was injured or maybe something else was going on with him on the field. He did not have the same intensity out there. He also looked as though he was really laboring during and after every play. He always had his hands on his knees even right before the snap. I know that is was extremely hot out there, but something just did not look right. The trainer even came over to him a couple of times. I would not be surprised if we found out that he was sick and just did not want that to be an excuse for his play.

This is what I don't like about Sherman, he doesn't own up to his play.

When he dominates, he has no problem letting everyone know it and talks crazy amounts of crap. But when he plays poorly?.......it's all "I'm not talking" and dumb twitter responses.

If you're going to talk shit, you have to also be humble when you don't play well..........and Sherman like the rest of the D, did not play well yesterday.

Sherman will have issues with small quick receivers. Also Sherman watches the QB's eyes a lot which will allow the receiver to get some space in the open. It should prove helpful though in preventing the explosive play but will allow the dink and dunk stuff all over the place. Also a couple of times it seems Sherman turned the wrong way, almost like he was guessing a bit too much or relying in his film study too much. They will try some different stuff on him and if he's guessing on routes he's seen before, it'll catch up with him every once in a while.

Exposed? Palease... If that's exposed, I'll take exposed. That just speaks to his dominance when everyone overreacts when he gives up 4 catches for 60 yds, 0 td's.

One thing is for sure, he can't complain about being bored anymore. I think teams will come after him and he's gotta adjust.

Sgt. Largent":20xabcrx said:

This is what I don't like about Sherman, he doesn't own up to his play.

When he dominates, he has no problem letting everyone know it and talks crazy amounts of crap. But when he plays poorly?.......it's all "I'm not talking" and dumb twitter responses.

If you're going to talk shit, you have to also be humble when you don't play well..........and Sherman like the rest of the D, did not play well yesterday.

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Exactly. It was weak sauce hiding after the game.

I may be wrong, but it looked like zone coverage and Sherman had outside and an LB was supposed to have the inside route. I don't think Sherman or Maxwell had a bad day. They were getting yards against our LBs and Strong Safety. The LBs in particular had a pretty crappy day.

I gave Sherm a free pass when I watched it the first time. Watching the replay was not encouraging at all and I like Sherm alot.
Damn Sherm was giving up as much as 10 yards to Allen even before the snap. He got turned around by Allen twice in the first couple series and was so far off Allen on a comeback route such that KJ Wright had to make the tackle. On the slant to Allen it appeared Richard guessed wrong and his momentum was going toward the sideline so rather than recovering normally he decided to just follow his momentum spinning the wrong way but staying deep enough to defend a double move back toward the sideline. He wasn't his usual barking self and had hand on hips by the second quarter.

Reaneypark":3w3ug31a said:

I may be wrong, but it looked like zone coverage and Sherman had outside and an LB was supposed to have the inside route. I don't think Sherman or Maxwell had a bad day. They were getting yards against our LBs and Strong Safety. The LBs in particular had a pretty crappy day.

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Kam had a difficult time with Gates. Woodhead and Royals getting free on underneath routes. Royals and Allen running fake pick plays as well.
You surely don't expect linebackers to run with wide receivers with guys like Woodhead getting free underneath do you? Richard often had just one guy to worry about and that was Allen. He uncharacteristically was not jamming him or in his face at all this game.

Russ Willstrong":2eo9nvn0 said:

Reaneypark":2eo9nvn0 said:

I may be wrong, but it looked like zone coverage and Sherman had outside and an LB was supposed to have the inside route. I don't think Sherman or Maxwell had a bad day. They were getting yards against our LBs and Strong Safety. The LBs in particular had a pretty crappy day.

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Kam had a difficult time with Gates. Woodhead and Royals getting free on underneath routes. Royals and Allen running fake pick plays as well.
You surely don't expect linebackers to run with wide receivers with guys like Woodhead getting free underneath do you? Richard often had just one guy to worry about and that was Allen. He uncharacteristically was not jamming him or in his face at all this game.

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And do you think he makes the decision not to jam him or be in his face himself? Or do you think that was the gameplan which he stuck to?

SeahawkNAtl":3blpthsf said:

It actually looked to me as though Sherman was injured or maybe something else was going on with him on the field. He did not have the same intensity out there. He also looked as though he was really laboring during and after every play. He always had his hands on his knees even right before the snap. I know that is was extremely hot out there, but something just did not look right. The trainer even came over to him a couple of times. I would not be surprised if we found out that he was sick and just did not want that to be an excuse for his play.

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Welcome to the discussion, NAtl, glad to have you here.

I actually thought this too, but was seeing it, at least to some degree, with the rest of the backfield as well. I think the heat and fatigue was a clear factor. A lot of cramping going on means guys aren't loose and free. Sherm may well have been having something going on in addition to that.

DavidSeven":1oqg751h said:

0 explosives, 0 TDs. San Diego's WRs barely impacted this game. Rivers won this game with Gates and short passes to his RBs.

The "keep everything in front of you" philosophy has worked for three years and would have worked here if we kept them out of the endzone. They can keep the ball for 40 minutes, but if we limit them to FGs (which Seattle is normally excellent at), then San Diego loses. Unfortunately, our LBs and safeties had no answer for Gates.

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This is spot on. The middle of of our D was exposed

A bad day for Sherm would be a good day for every other corner, yeah he wasn't as good as he was week one but lets not act he was torched all day. This game was all about our LB's not being able to cover and Quinn not making adjustments needed to stop Gates. At the end of the day we played poorly, SD played out of there mind, and we were still there in the end.

themunn":c4iyczh2 said:

It's an odd one - Allen "juked" Sherman in that gif, but he doesn't try to track him until the ball is going his way - we'll never know for sure if he is in a zone assignment to guard the sideline (which is what it looks like to me).

As for giving up 4 receptions for 54 yards, there's definitely one reception being credited "against Sherman" when KJ Wright was the defender, so that's 3/6 for 40, which against one of 2013's top 5 offenses is hardly terrible.

In any case though, I can't understand why, lined up on 3rd and 5 like that, Sherman isn't in press coverage, bump and run and throw off their timing - they're not going to throw it long there, it's not what they do.

That's on Dan Quinn.

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Can't blame Quinn for Sherm's play. It was not the game plan to be passive.
If it was the game plan to allow underneath routes and intermediate routes while being physical and intimidating like we did in the superbowl then he did not execute the physical and intimidating portion of it. Sherm wanted the challenges no matter how few. For the playmaker he is he was never close to a pick or a deflection. Maxwell was burned too but arguably played more physical and better overall.

Tech Worlds":3cwmgzhg said:

Sgt. Largent":3cwmgzhg said:

This is what I don't like about Sherman, he doesn't own up to his play.

When he dominates, he has no problem letting everyone know it and talks crazy amounts of crap. But when he plays poorly?.......it's all "I'm not talking" and dumb twitter responses.

If you're going to talk shit, you have to also be humble when you don't play well..........and Sherman like the rest of the D, did not play well yesterday.

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Exactly. It was weak sauce hiding after the game.

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That depends. If he didn't feel like he could control himself during an interview than I think he made the right choice. I know Carroll talked to him about his infamous post-NFC Championship rant and I also know that if Sherman had gone off yesterday it would have made a bad situation even worse. Better to stay away than get in front of a microphone and say something stupid.

I do think he should make himself available to the media today, though.