NFL '13 SEASON THREAD

[See Red]

I'm hoping Manning lights up Sherman, then retires on top.

I'm the same way. I'd like to see Manning win this one and then retire -- with John Fox doing the same. Don't get me wrong, as a Broncos fan, I'd love for him to play out his contract -- but as a football fan, I'd like to see him put up another great performance, cement his case for being the best QB ever, shed the "can't play in the postseason" label (even though it's a ridiculous label to start with) and ride off into the sunset. It'd be even better if the game winner comes via a TD to Demaryius Thomas over the outstretched hand of Richard Sherman in the back corner of the endzone.

[DarkJourney]

I know Richard Sherman is a great player but can't the guy have a little more class. All of his big time bravado will come back to haunt him one day. Anyway, good luck Seahawks.

[ADW77]

I'm hoping Manning lights up Sherman, then retires on top.

I'm the same way. I'd like to see Manning win this one and then retire -- with John Fox doing the same. Don't get me wrong, as a Broncos fan, I'd love for him to play out his contract -- but as a football fan, I'd like to see him put up another great performance, cement his case for being the best QB ever, shed the "can't play in the postseason" label (even though it's a ridiculous label to start with) and ride off into the sunset. It'd be even better if the game winner comes via a TD to Demaryius Thomas over the outstretched hand of Richard Sherman in the back corner of the endzone.

I'd rather see him do it next year, after winning back to back Super Bowls. Just my two cents though.

[Rockstar Matt]

I know Richard Sherman is a great player but can't the guy have a little more class. All of his big time bravado will come back to haunt him one day. Anyway, good luck Seahawks.

He's from LA/SoCal. Most of our pro players in the last 5-7 years are really cocky. It's a LA thing.

[Cosmic]

I'm not the biggest fan of Sherman, but what he just said was awesome. Add more fuel to that fire for next year

See, I feel the exact opposite. I always kinda liked Sherman because he was a little mouthy and I found it funny. But when you come out and proclaim yourself to be the best? That's just uncalled for. I really hope the Broncos test Sherman in the Super Bowl and I hope he gets beat multiple times.

But he's clearly the best. It felt like they threw at him one time the entire game, and he ended it. That's pretty dominant.

True or not, that's not for Sherman to decide. It'd be like James Cameron saying he's the best writer/director in the world because of Titanic and Avatar being the top two highest grossing movies of all time. Sure, he's done his job as a writer/director in making great films and money for those films, but for him to outright say he's the best is a bit pretentious.

I'd much rather he said: "Well Erin, trying to determine the best cornerback is extremely subjective, depending on the situation, the scheme and the other players on the defense. Really, a couple of bounces random bounces could have really swung the game the other way, so I think we're just lucky to be here."

C'mon! It was so cool to see some actual emotion in an interview! To go along with the wrestling thing, I was kind of expecting to find out that Bowman faked his injury when he ran in from backstage to hit Sherman with a chair.

[CS85]

I know Richard Sherman is a great player but can't the guy have a little more class. All of his big time bravado will come back to haunt him one day. Anyway, good luck Seahawks.

He's from LA/SoCal. Most of our pro players in the last 5-7 years are really cocky. It's a LA thing.

1. It's an L.A. thing

2. *vomit*

[rams80]

I'd much rather he cut down on the steroid intake to a respectable level myself.

[DarkJourney]

To play along with the wrestling angle.

Mr. Sherman I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine:

[Rockstar Matt]

I know Richard Sherman is a great player but can't the guy have a little more class. All of his big time bravado will come back to haunt him one day. Anyway, good luck Seahawks.

He's from LA/SoCal. Most of our pro players in the last 5-7 years are really cocky. It's a LA thing.

1. It's an L.A. thing

2. *vomit*

I knew it sounded funny, but I'm too tired to care. However, there's a slight possibility that I should have stayed in college after all.

[BlueSky]

At the time I thought Sherman was a complete jackass in the interview but a couple of posters here made good points about him being jacked up after the win. Fair enough. But taunting Crabtree and getting in his face was classless and unnecessary. I kinda wish Sherman had tipped it to a 49er. Now that would have been an interesting post-game interview.

Kinda thought Crabtree should have stopped and at least fought for that ball. It's the season, man!

Felt bad for Bowman. Leg gets crushed but at least he makes an unbelievable play...which doesn't count because the officials miss it and it's not reviewable. Unbelievable.

For the SB, I hope Denver wins. I like Peyton and John Fox. That's a reversal from what I said before but there's just something about the Seahawks that rubs me the wrong way.

Interesting trivia from yesterday's game on CBS: the Broncos and Patriots played the first-ever AFL game on 9/9/60.

[Sport]

At the time I thought Sherman was a complete jackass in the interview but a couple of posters here made good points about him being jacked up after the win. Fair enough. But taunting Crabtree and getting in his face was classless and unnecessary. I kinda wish Sherman had tipped it to a 49er. Now that would have been an interesting post-game interview.

Kinda thought Crabtree should have stopped and at least fought for that ball. It's the season, man!

Felt bad for Bowman. Leg gets crushed but at least he makes an unbelievable play...which doesn't count because the officials miss it and it's not reviewable. Unbelievable.

For the SB, I hope Denver wins. I like Peyton and John Fox. That's a reversal from what I said before but there's just something about the Seahawks that rubs me the wrong way.

Interesting trivia from yesterday's game on CBS: the Broncos and Patriots played the first-ever AFL game on 9/9/60.

They rub me the wrong way too. I like their offense, I really like Marshawn Lynch (the handshake touchdown celebration is hilarious), and I’ve always been an admirer or their name, logos, and helmets, but I think it's the way their defense acts after any play when the opposition fails to get a first down. Every team does that to an extent, but the Seahawks take it to another level.

I will be pulling for the Broncos because I’m tired of all the unfair labels that get thrown at Peyton Manning and because It’ll suck to live in a world where his doofus younger brother has more rings than he does. If he wins this game you can’t call him a playoff choke artist anymore. Plus, he’ll be the first QB to ever win a Super Bowl with two different teams.

Also I have a lot of family and friends in Denver who are big Broncos fans, I love the city, and I was this close to moving to Denver three years ago.

It's funny that both the 49ers and Patriots have been in the conference championship game the last three years and they haven't met in the Super Bowl in any of those years.

[BlueSky]

I don't like some of the things Lynch does (like grabbing his crotch after the Beast Mode run against the Saints) but that guy is, well, a beast. There will never be another Earl Campbell but Lynch is the closest in a long time to duplicating Campbell's style. Back when he left Buffalo, the word in N.O. was that the Saints were interested but decided to pass on trying to sign him. If so, somebody should have taken the Beast Mode run and dubbed in a "D'oh!" from the Saints' organization over every broken tackle.

[vicfurth]

Anyone else get the feeling Manning is watching Richard Sherman last night and giggling?

[infrared41]

OK, I was pretty down on Richard Sherman - until I read this... And watched this...

[BlueSky]

^ It provides some perspective but did he really go over to Crabtree to shake his hand? Hmmm... And Sherman's humility is just inspiring (cue eye roll).

I do appreciate him condemning the fans who (allegedly at this point) threw food at Bowman as he was carted off. Beyond classless.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

This is a good take on Richard Sherman that validates my opinion, so I'm sharing it: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tommytomlinson/2014/01/19/22-brief-thoughts-about-that-richard-sherman-interview/

1. So the Seahawks beat the 49ers to go to the Super Bowl, and Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman made the game-saving play, and Erin Andrews interviewed him on the field immediately after the game, and he hollered like a crazy person:

2. Within seconds people on social media were calling him a fool, a thug, a classless jerk and many worse things.

3. Sherman is black, and so of course there was an undercurrent of race to some — OK, a lot — of the discussion.

4. Sherman graduated second in his class in high school and also graduated from Stanford. So not only is he not a fool, odds are he’s smarter than you and me.

5. His degree from Stanford was in communications … which might explain why, while he seemed to be hollering like a crazy person, he didn’t curse and looked into the camera the whole time.

6. In other words, he might have just been auditioning for the WWE.

7. Maybe 15 minutes later, when Sherman sat down with the Fox NFL guys, he was calm and funny.

8. If you stick a microphone in a football player’s face seconds after he made a huge play to send his team to the Super Bowl, you shouldn’t be surprised if he’s a little amped up.

9. Ninety-nine percent of on-field interviews are boring and useless. The TV networks do them anyway for the 1 percent of the time they get a moment like Richard Sherman.

10. As a reporter and writer, that raw emotion — whatever form it takes — is exactly what I hope for. That’s why media people fight for access to locker rooms. After players and coaches cool off, most of them turn into Crash Davis, reading from the book of cliches.

11. But we — the media, and fans in general — don’t know what we want. We rip athletes for giving us boring quotes. But if they say what they actually feel, we rip them for spouting off or showing a lack of class.

12. It’s like we want them to be thinking, Well, that was a fine contest, and jolly good that we won. Which NO athlete is EVER thinking.

[dbadefense1990]

To add in the whole "I want team X to win it" discussion, here's hoping Denver wins it for Champ Bailey, so that he can ride his career off into the sunset like many championship-starved athletes waiting until the end for that 1st ring.

I know Richard Sherman is a great player but can't the guy have a little more class. All of his big time bravado will come back to haunt him one day. Anyway, good luck Seahawks.

He's from LA/SoCal. Most of our pro players in the last 5-7 years are really cocky. It's a LA thing.

Nah, it's more like the last 25 years. From Nick Van Excel to Raul Mondesi to Jim Everett to having Sean Avery for a year or two, we've had a long list of cocky athletes playing in SoCal.

[GFB]

This is a good take on Richard Sherman that validates my opinion, so I'm sharing it:

This. For what it's worth, I'd so much rather watch an excited player than more Peyton Manning stoicism; as if faux-sportsmanship is what the world needs more of. How much better would have been if Peyton had been giddy after the game and been like: "Screw Brady... I'm the best quarterback in the game and all time. Did you watch the clinic I just put on?"

But hey, these are the same people who don't like it when NHL goal celebrations consist of anything more than raising your arms or baseball players don't start running the bases a second after they blast a 450 ft bomb to center. Killjoys.

[oldschoolvikings]

For my self, Ill be rooting for the Broncos, too. Like some stated above, the Seahawks just rub me the wrong way... smarmy Pete, ugly uniforms, talky d-bags on the defense, ugly uniforms, the whole "our fans are better than yours" stuff... and of course, ugly uniforms. I'm kinda glad to have this Sherman business to use as an excuse, so when people ask me why I'm rooting for the Broncos I don't have to tell them I really just hate the uniforms.

[See Red]

This is a good take on Richard Sherman that validates my opinion, so I'm sharing it:

This. For what it's worth, I'd so much rather watch an excited player than more Peyton Manning stoicism; as if faux-sportsmanship is what the world needs more of. How much better would have been if Peyton had been giddy after the game and been like: "Screw Brady... I'm the best quarterback in the game and all time. Did you watch the clinic I just put on?"

But hey, these are the same people who don't like it when NHL goal celebrations consist of anything more than raising your arms or baseball players don't start running the bases a second after they blast a 450 ft bomb to center. Killjoys.

Well, in that example, it would be one thing if Manning's current off-field demeanor is unauthentic (plus, the two are friends so it's highly unlikely that would happen). I've never seen anything to suggest that Manning isn't genuine, so he's probably a bad example. I really don't care how the players act and whether they want to talk trash and act like Sherman or show a little more respect for opponents, like Peyton Manning, but I do tend to think the approach of someone like Peyton Manning has less chance of coming back and biting them in the ass.

Just curious from those into the advanced stats, where does Sherman actually rank amongst the leagues corner backs? He's clearly one of the league's best, but there's certainly value in playing with the talent that Seattle has surrounded him with.