NFL

The many feuds of Richard Sherman

Sunday night’s verbal fireworks were just an example of Richard Sherman being Richard Sherman.

The mouthy Seahawks cornerback, whose pass deflection led to the game-clinching interception in the NFC Championship Game, unloaded on 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree in a post-game interview with FOX’s Erin Andrews, saying, “I’m the best corner in the game! When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you’re going to get. Don’t you ever talk about me!”

Sherman’s feud with Crabtree isn’t the first time the pugilistic cornerback has engaged in combat — physical or verbal. The third-year pro out of Stanford has racked up an impressive list of antagonists in a short period of time. Here are his greatest hits:

  1. 1. Tom Brady

    Richard Sherman, Tom Brady
    AP

    One of the first hints Sherman isn’t shy — he trolled one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

    Last season, when the Seahawks hosted the Patriots, Sherman intercepted the Patriots quarterback in the third quarter of an eventual Seattle win. Sherman said Brady had told Sherman and Seahawks safety Earl Thomas to “see him after the game when they win…I found him after…”

    Sherman tweeted his response by adding U MAD BRO? to the photo above. 

    On Monday, a day after losing the AFC Championship Game, Brady ripped Sherman’s boastful act after Seattle’s win over the 49ers: “I’ve watched him play. He’s that kind of guy. So, you know. I approach the game — and I have respect for my opponents. That’s the way our team always plays. We win with graciousness.”

     

     

  2. 2. Skip Bayless

    Perhaps Sherman’s most infamous dispute came with the polarizing co-host of ESPN’s “First Take” this past March.

    The barbs came fast and furious. Bayless said to Sherman, who was appearing on the show, “I think I’ve accomplished more in my field than you have in yours, though you’re just getting started.”

    Sherman didn’t take kindly to that, saying, “I’m [at] the top of my field. I’m an All-Pro, I’m one of the best 22 players in the NFL — you’re going to brush it off. I don’t think you’re the best 22 anything. … In my 24 years of my life, I’m better at life than you.”

    Sherman later added, “First team All-Pro is my goal. I accomplished it, so now it’s on to bigger and better things. Those are my goals, and it’s always going to be my goals. … I am intelligent enough and capable enough to understand that you are ignorant, pompous, egotistical, [cretinous]. That’s really what it comes down to. I’m going to crush you on here in front of everybody because I’m tired of hearing about it.”

  3. 3. Darrelle Revis

    Jets
    Anthony Causi

    Last February, Sherman engaged in a Twitter dispute with Revis, who was in his final months as a Jet.

    The back-and-forth had started the month before, when Sherman posted a picture of his stats compared to Revis’, saying, “Women lie. Men lie. Numbers don’t lie.”

    At the time, Sherman had 12 interceptions in two seasons, compared to just 16 in six seasons for Revis.

    “Sometimes the truth needs to be told,” Sherman tweeted. “Tired of the noise lol. Btw I am near the least targeted corner in the League. So keep the excuses.”

    Later on, in response to a fan question on Twitter, Sherman picked teammate Brandon Browner and the Jets’ Antonio Cromartie as the other best cornerbacks in the NFL. A second fan asked Sherman why he left Revis off that list, and he responded, “He didn’t play this year so when he does he will be on it.”

    Revis responded by poking fun at Sherman: “I never seen a man before run his mouth so much like [a] girl. This dude just steady putting my name in his mouth to get notoriety. … Sit down young pup & wait your turn.”

    Sherman stayed the course in his response, telling Revis to “get his picks up” and adding, “One season u will get 8 picks…. But it won’t happen anytime soon… I did it in my 2nd season… So u have something to chase. Got off my flight to this hilarious convo. So I have 8 picks 3 ff [forced fumbles] and a sack. My season stats looking like Revis career stats. For the QB not throwing his way argument. In his 2nd year they were throwing his way. I still doubled his picks.”

  4. 4. Jim Harbaugh

    Jim Harbaugh, Richard Sherman
    Harbaugh and Sherman hug after a 2010 win over Notre Dame, but their relationship soured after Stanford. AP

    Coaches aren’t off limits. Even Sherman’s own former coaches. This summer, he took a shot at the 49ers’ coach, whom he played under at Stanford.

    “I don’t have a relationship with him,” he said on the NFL Network in July. “I don’t try to go any route with him. I don’t deal with him; he is not my coach. So I deal with what is going on in Seattle and I keep it there.”

    A bit of context: Earlier that offseason, Harbaugh commented on the number of Seahawks who were getting suspended for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, and Browner responded, “I’d like to wring Harbaugh’s neck.”

    Ironically, Browner was hit with an indefinite suspension a month ago for violating the substance abuse policy.

  5. 5. Trent Williams

    Last year, following the Seahawks’ playoff victory against the Redskins, Sherman was punched in the face by the Redskins lineman — “mushed,” in the parlance of our times — who was fed up with Sherman’s incessant trash-talking throughout the game. 

  6. 6. New York/New Jersey

    And Away We Go Football
    AP

    In a piece for Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback last month, Sherman said that hosting a cold-weather outdoor Super Bowl at the MetLife Stadium would be a “BIG mistake.”

    “The Super Bowl should be a clean slate that showcases the athletes, not the stadium or the city they’re playing in.”

  7. 7. Roddy White

    Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons
    EPA

    Crabtree wasn’t the first big-time receiver to be minimized by Sherman in an interview.

    Sherman called the Falcons’ Roddy White an “easy cover” before this season. That came after White scored a 47-yard touchdown on him in the Falcons’ win over the Seahawks in last season’s Divisional Round.

    In response, White said Sherman “would actually be the first guy that I would want to face.” When the two faced off in Week 10, White had one catch for 20 yards and the Seahawks crushed Atlanta, 33-10.