Thursday, January 30, 2014

Richard Sherman, Intelligent Jerk (Parts 1 & 2) and a Super Bowl pick



By Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)

So Richard Sherman deflects a pass on a fade route (that’s how Richard Sherman described it) into the end zone against the 49ers and Michael Crabtree.  The tip leads to the game-clinching interception by linebacker Malcolm Smith.  Sherman mouths off to Crabtree and makes the choke sign, apparently at Colin Kaepernick.

All in the heat of the game, right?  Well, bush league as those actions may be, not exactly.  After the game, being interviewed by Erin Andrews, he mocked Crabtree.  Later, in the post-game press conference, he further mocked Crabtree, a very good NFL receiver.  Sherman kept repeating the word “mediocre” when referring to Crabtree.

So, in that magical and tough trip from Compton to Stanford to the NFL to the Super Bowl, nobody ever taught Sherman (or he, despite his intelligence, was unable to learn) one simple thing: how to win with class.

Sherman’s right; it’s totally unfair (and ignorant) to call him a thug or a criminal.  Stanford grad or not, he doesn’t deserve that.  But to do what he did to fellow competitors competing at the highest level: well that’s a jerky thing to do.

Despite all of the apologies and backtracking and tweeting, at the end of the day (and upon reiterating that Crabtree really is a “mediocre” receiver), Sherman still doesn’t get it.

And as for all the references to Muhammad Ali, understand this:  there was only one Ali, and Richard Sherman isn’t in his neighborhood, despite being a great corner.

MICHAEL CRABTREE – CLASSY IN DEFEAT

On the other hand, there was Michael Crabtree, maybe two or three inches (of a higher throw) away from going to the Super Bowl, standing in front of his locker answering questions after the tough loss.  And what did Crabtree say: “He’s [Sherman’s] a TV guy; I’m not a TV guy.  I play ball.” 

Well, Amen to that.  Whatever Sherman really thinks of Crabtree (and he may have been trying to psyche him out for next season, as these teams play at least twice a year), he could learn a lot about class from Michael Crabtree.

In addition, Crabtree complemented Sherman not once, but twice, saying he made a good play.

Michael Crabtree showed a lot of class in defeat, something Richard Sherman was unable to show in victory.  Unfortunately, millions of kids will see and emulate Sherman before Crabtree.

And people want to know why kids act the way they do today.

RUSSELL WILSON

On the first Seattle offensive play against the 49ers, Russell Wilson made a gigantic mistake, which presumably was overlooked because the Seahawks won the game.  You’ve seen the play plenty of times in the NFL.  Virtually everybody on Seattle moves to the right, but Wilson fakes a handoff and rolls out left.  Coming with him is tight end Zach Miller.

Only Aldon Smith goes with Miller and you have something that you see all the time on this play: two offensive players against one defensive player.  Smith is about eight or nine yards away from Wilson and right near Miller.  If Smith stays with the tight end, Wilson runs.  If Smith sprints towards Wilson, he simply lobs the ball over Smith’s head to Miller.

But, inexplicably, on this play, when Smith runs towards Wilson, Wilson keeps the ball, and tries to run around Smith, who strips Wilson of the ball.  The 49ers recover on the Seattle 15 but the 49ers are held to a field goal, a victory for the Seattle defense.

This was even worse than a rookie mistake by Russell Wilson, again virtually ignored by the media.  If he makes a terrible play like that against the Broncos, it might very well be 7-0, not 3-0, a play that could change the complexion of the game.

But Russell Wilson is a very bright guy who should learn from his mistakes.

RICHARD SHERMAN – INTELLIGENT JERK (PART 2)

In addition to the classless behavior Sherman exhibited towards the 49ers, it was arguably even worse towards his own teammate.  After the game, Sherman was talking about how, if the Seahawks knew the game was going to turn on a fade (that’s Sherman’s characterization of the route) route thrown his way, they would have celebrated their victory a lot sooner.

Of course, he totally missed the point of the play.  If you watch a lot of NFL games, there are literally hundreds of fade routes thrown every year in the NFL.  Even the average fan knows that most of them are one on one, receiver on corner, into a corner of the end zone.  Depending on the throw, more often than anything else, the pass is either completed or not.

On the Sherman-Crabtree play, the throw was slightly underthrown and Sherman was in good position to deflect (not intercept) the throw.

The FAR BETTER play was by linebacker Malcolm Smith.  Think of all the fade routes you see every year.  When, if ever, is there a linebacker with the speed and the brain to run into the end zone to be around the play?

It was, of course, the interception by Smith that clinched the victory.  Had he not been there, after Sherman’s very good play, it would have been second down.  Yet Sherman, at least right after the game, gave no credit to his teammate.  It was as if he thought he had intercepted the pass.

So, once again, with kids growing up in the look-at-me world that we live in, how do you expect them to act?

SUPER BOWL PREDICTION: SEATTLE 23, DENVER 19

While I agree that it’s hard to root for Richard Sherman, the NFC has been stronger than the AFC all year.  Since this writer picked the Seahawks (over the Patriots, however) to win the Super Bowl before the season, we’ll stick with Seattle winning the Super Bowl.

Best defense beats best offense?  While that usually happens in history, recently the NFL has become a video game offensive game.  But the Broncos had trouble scoring touchdowns against the Patriots (and no matter what you think about Manning “carving up” the Pats defense, it was 3-0 when Aqib Talib was knocked out of the game in the 2nd quarter by a Wes Welker pick) and Tom Brady was unbelievably inaccurate on some huge plays.

It says here that Russell Wilson will make some big plays and Percy Harvin will be at least an important decoy and quite possibly, despite his layoffs and injuries, an actual contributor.

It doesn’t look like the weather will be much of a factor and people think that will help Denver, but it says here that the Seahawks get the job done.

We will see soon enough (actually, the game can’t get here soon enough). 

@ COPYRIGHT 2014 BY STEVE KALLAS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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