Richard Sherman had another stellar performance in Saturday’s emphatic 27-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday, and made Kirk Cousins pay by intercepting the first pass thrown at him since Week 16.
But Sherman wasn’t exactly in a joyous mood postgame. Instead, he expressed his annoyance via a lengthy rant directed at his critics. Here are his comments in full:
“I get tired of hearing ‘oh man he’s a zone corner.’ I get tired of hearing the excuses for why I’m great. It was man coverage, I covered the man, I picked the ball off. In the playoffs, in big games, I show up. I show up year in, year out, whether it’s 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, unless I tear my Achilles, I’m out there doing my job at a high level.
“I get tired of the excuses for why I’m good. ‘Oh my god, they’re playing zone. Oh my god, it was this guy. Oh my god, the receiver slipped.’ Why don’t other people get those opps then? There’s a lot of other corners out there that have the same opps I have.
“It’s odd. It’s like people got frustrated that I was so confident early on in my career. I was so confident early on so that people wanted me to fail, and when I didn’t fail, it’s like how do we tear him down in other ways. ‘How do we find a way to tear him down? How do we find a way to rip his game apart?’ Because I’m too consistant on a year in year out basis.
“Since I got in the league, every category that matters to a corner I’m number one in. Completion percentage, interceptions, touchdowns against, yards, passer rating. If that was any other corner, it wouldn’t even be a conversation. I just get tired of it.
“In the playoffs I’ve played in 13 games now, zero touchdowns given up, three interceptions. Like, show me somebody else doing it like that and then I’ll enjoy the argument. But there isn’t.”
Sherman is a five-time Pro Bowler, and was named to the NFC squad this year along with a second-team All-Pro selection.