Richard Sherman answered his critics over his emotional outburst in the aftermath of Sunday’s NFC Championship game.
The outspoken Seahawks cornerback wrote a column for Sports Illustrated on Monday after being criticized by many in the media and on Twitter for blasting San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree in his post-game interview with FOX Sports’ Erin Andrews.
“I ran over to Crabtree to shake his hand but he ignored me. I patted him, stuck out my hand and said, ‘Good game, good game.’ That’s when he shoved my face, and that’s when I went off,” Sherman wrote. “Erin Andrews interviewed me after the game and I yelled what was obvious: If you put a subpar player across from a great one, most of the time you’re going to get one result. As far as Crabtree being a top-20 NFL receiver, you’d have a hard time making that argument to me. There are a lot of receivers playing good ball out there, and Josh Gordon needed 14 games to produce almost double what Crabtree can do in a full season. And Gordon had Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell playing quarterback.
“But that’s not why I don’t like the man. It goes back to something he said to me this offseason in Arizona, but you’d have to ask him about that. A lot of what I said to Andrews was adrenaline talking, and some of that was Crabtree. I just don’t like him.”
The feud with Crabtree stems from a confrontation he had with the 49ers receiver at charity event last summer for Arizona Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald, according to the Seattle Times. Crabtree reportedly tried to start a fight with Sherman when the Seahawks cornerback went to shake his hand. Sherman said that day, “I’m going to make a play and embarrass him.”
Sherman, who led the NFL this season with eight interceptions, played down his actions in Monday’s column and voiced his disappointment with those who directed racial remarks at him on Twitter.
“It was in the moment, and it was just a small part of the person I am. I don’t want to be a villain, because I’m not a villainous person,” Sherman explained. “To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field—don’t judge a person’s character by what they do between the lines. Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family.
“But people find it easy to take shots on Twitter, and to use racial slurs and bullying language far worse than what you’ll see from me. It’s sad and somewhat unbelievable to me that the world is still this way, but it is. I can handle it.”
The Stanford grad also condemned Seahawks fans who threw popcorn at injured 49ers linebacker NaVorro Bowman as he was being carted off the field with a broken leg.
“I’m sure whoever did this is in a small minority of fans, because I don’t think that kind of action is an accurate representation of the character of the 12th man. Navorro Bowman is a great player who plays the game the right way. When he went down, I dropped to a knee and prayed for him. He deserves better than having food thrown at him as he’s carted off a field. All players deserve better than that.”
