Richard Sherman was called for three pass interference penalties in Sunday’s win over the Arizona Cardinals, and offered a serious accusation as an explanation for the penalties.
Following San Francisco’s 36-26 win, Sherman suggested that his involvement in the NFL Players Association Executive Committee leads some referees to penalize him more. Sherman made his comments somewhat subtly while speaking at the podium after the game.
Richard Sherman calls the three DPI calls against him “interesting” #49ers pic.twitter.com/uHMA7iF9r8
— Tracy Sandler (@49ersfangirl) November 18, 2019
“I had three penalties on the season coming into this game, and to get three in a half is really interesting, especially with the way that the reversals have gone. I think there’s been probably over 100 PI challenges this year, and there’s been five, I think, reversals, and I’m two of them. I think being an E.C. member and part of that committee has its perks, and then it has its conversations where you’re the only one who gets overturned,” Sherman said.
As Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith noted, Sherman seemed to hint that officials might want to please the league by sticking it to a vocal member of the players’ union.
“I’ve been here long enough and played long enough to understand they call the game like that sometimes, and you just have to overcome. I know the way the system works with referees and how they get in the playoffs, and how they have point systems whether they got it right or got it wrong, so the league will make that decision and they’ll tell them if they’re right or wrong.”
Sherman has legitimate reasons for gripes. The league has been loathe to overturn a pass interference call or no call all season, yet they overturned a no-call on Sunday that went against Sherman. This came the same day that this play involving DeAndre Hopkins somehow was not overturned. In the Jets’ game against Washington, one PI call actually was overturned, though it was extraordinarily blatant:
Refs called this offensive pass interference on Jets WR #18. Jets have challenged. pic.twitter.com/Fxnq8hM9pS
— Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) November 17, 2019
Sherman was called for another pass interference when he came over the back of a receiver just before the ball arrived. It was very close.
Sherman should be upset over the calls, but his explanation for it is one heck of a conspiracy theory. When it comes to him, he’s never been shy to speak his mind or stir things up.
