NFL

Demaryius on Sherman: Everyone has a weakness

Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas had no interest in getting into a trash-talking contest with Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman through the media Monday, but Thomas does not sound intimidated by Sherman.

“I kind of think everybody’s got a weakness,” Thomas said when asked if Sherman has one.

But when asked what he would do to exploit that weakness, he clammed up.

“You’ll have to see come Sunday.”

Thomas versus Sherman could be one of the best matchups of Super Bowl XLVIII … if it even develops. The Broncos have a number of good receivers with Thomas, Eric Decker and Wes Welker. It will be a chess match between the teams, moving their pieces around to get the best matchups.

Thomas said he’s unsure if he’ll end up facing Sherman, but he does not want one of the storylines to be how Sherman stopped him.

A reporter asked Thomas if he wants to “shut up” the chatty Sherman.

“I’m not going to say ‘shut him up,’ ” Thomas said, “but I’m going to go out and try to make some plays, so I don’t have anybody coming up to me saying I got shut down by Sherman.”

The 26-year-old Thomas led the Broncos this season with 92 catches for 1,430 yards and 14 touchdowns. His production has not gone unnoticed by Sherman.

“I definitely think he’s in the top five,” Sherman said. “He’s put together a heck of a year and done everything in his power to put himself in that conversation. He’s made the big catches. He’s made a lot of runs after the catch and turned small plays into huge plays. I think that he’s a great receiver, and he’s a great competitor. It’s going to be a fun matchup between both of us, because we’re both intense competitors and good friends.”

Thomas, in his fourth year out of Georgia Tech, had some success in his first two years, but he has taken off since Peyton Manning took over as the Broncos quarterback, notching back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons.

“Demaryius is a very gifted athlete, both in height, weight and speed as we evaluate people in the draft process and the evaluation of the human talent process,” Broncos coach John Fox said. “He is very, very gifted, no doubt. He is one of the better athletes I’ve been blessed to be around. Again, it’s developing the skills. Ultimately, it goes back to the kind of person Demaryius is. He’s definitely improved and become a much more polished receiver over the last couple of years, for sure. He gets all of the credit for that. It’s a lot of hard work, our whole football team has worked very hard to get to this place just like the other side has. Demaryius has been a big part of that, and he is a very, very capable player at his position, and he will continue to grow as we move forward.”