Richard Sherman isn’t about to let people call him dirty for his controversial plays during “Monday Night Football” against the Buffalo Bills. Instead, the Seattle Seahawks cornerback defended himself for his plays and had some fair explanations for them.
To start with, many called Sherman dirty for his hit on Bills kicker Dan Carpenter while attempting to block a field goal before halftime.
“I went to block the kick,” Sherman said of the play in an interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters after the game. “I’m not going to let him make a kick. When they called offsides, I’m not going to let them have a free play. They didn’t blow the whistle so I played until the whistle is blown.”
Sherman took a lot of flak for diving at Carpenter on the attempted field goal with three seconds left in the first half. Yet Sherman had a different take on things.
“I went straight for the ball. I didn’t go for the kicker,” Sherman told Salters. “He should have not kicked it. Maybe he wanted to. I went for the ball — that’s where I went. So when the ball gets tipped on the play, the rule is if it’s tipped, there’s no flag.”
Sherman was penalized five yards for being offsides, but he luckily avoided a personal foul penalty for the late hit, which should have been a 15-yard penalty. The NFL said the call was missed, but Sherman deflected that.
“Don’t mean nothing to me. They missed a ton of calls. We’ve dealt with a ton of missed calls the whole year.”
The missed call proved to be costly. Due to a spike and delay of game, the Bills were pushed back five yards and missed the kick. They ended up having to go for a touchdown at the end of the game rather than a field goal to tie it. Those three points missed before halftime were crucial.
Then on the final play of the game, Sherman was seen absolutely leveling Bills receiver Walter Powell.
Please watch Richard Sherman destroy the WR right in front of the referee…no call? Good refs @NFL — you're doing great work! pic.twitter.com/ZS8uqXGC1V
— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) November 8, 2016
The sports website Deadspin posted a video of the play. Sherman had a response:
@Deadspin that's what happens when the Qb scrambles….. check the rule book ……
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) November 8, 2016
Sherman isn’t letting anyone get the edge on him. His Seahawks got the last word too with a 31-25 win.
