"In my 24 years of life, I'm better at life than you" - Richard Sherman

Almost nailed this one.

Predicted Score: SEA 24 SF 16

Actual Score: SEA 23 SF 17

First, all anyone wants to talk about is Richard Sherman and I will offer up an opinion on him later.  However, for now I want to talk about what should have been focused on when the various networks were recapping this game.

• Marshawn Lynch - 1st running back to go over 100 yards rushing in a game vs SF all season long.  He scratched and clawed for each one of those 109 yards.
• How about that Seattle front 7 holding Frank Gore to 14 yards on 11 carries
• Dougie Baldwin had a nice game 6 - 106 and a huge kickoff return to answer a SF score.
• Let's give LB Malcom Smith some credit for hustling down field to actually catch that tipped INT. 
• Maybe stir the pot with some controversy?  How was the NaVorro Bowman play not reviewable.  What about a missed roughing the punter called that led to a SEA TD?

Steve DelVecchio - Larry Brown Sports

NaVorro Bowman clearly stripped and recovered the ball as well as clearly tore ligaments in his knee.  I really hope that the rules committee can bare to watch this gruesome injury enough times to realize that this sort of play needs to be reviewable starting next season.  How did none of the seven officials on the field see this? With in 10 seconds of that strip I had 3 texts saying saying 9'er ball / fumble or some combination of the two.  Being able to hold onto that ball all the way to the ground says something about Bowman's toughness.

For me the officiating was sketchy all game.  Aside from the above blown call there were two other calls that had me talking to the TV.

1.  2nd quarter SF 3-0.  They have a 3rd and goal from the 1 and Anthony Dixon goes air born and clearly lands short of the goal line.  Neither official signals and run towards the pile up.  One of the officials get to the pile and decide to signal TD at this point.  When does common sense kick in?  Was the officials line of thought really, "Hmmm...well I didn't see the ball cross the goal line, but now that I have taken 5 seconds to run in here I can see that he is in the end-zone....TOUCHDOWN!!!!

David Miniel - Fansided

2.  Roughing / Running into the kicker:  As explained by Mike Pereira on air, a 15 yard personal foul penalty should be called if contact is made with the punter's plant leg.  I am not a big fan of roughing the punter or even running into the punter penalties called because there is usually some Emmy Award acting that goes into it.  With my buck squarely behind the Seahawks I am glad this wasn't called roughing, however; by the letter of the law this should have been a 15 yard penalty.

Before doing some digging I did not realize just how rare a blocked punt is.

• 2013/14 Season # of punts: 2,509
• Number of blocked punts: 18
• 1:139 punts get blocked

 Teams aren't getting close enough to a block to even draw penalties (like above)

• Number of running into the punter called: 9
• Number of roughing the punter called: 3

Might be time to reinvent punt block schemes with that type of success rate / pressure.

Let's talk Sherman...

First, I think my analysis on Sherman from March 12th 2013 still holds true today.  On this day my money was behind Sherman so I laughed at the rant.  I think interviewing guys on the field right after a game is stupid.  These guys have been juiced up for the past 3-4 hours and then with in seconds of the final whistle they throw a microphone in their face and expect them to craft a well thought out response.  Every once in awhile your gonna get something like a Vontae a Jameis or even an old fashioned Ray-Ray for an answer.

The Sherman interview from this past weekend isn't even in my top 3 best pieces of video involving Richard Sherman.
#3. Interviewing fans on Bourbon Street during SB week last year.

                                                                         Bleacher Report

#2. Get'em Richard!

BSOTV

 #1. Imma' punch you in your damn face.

The #3 video is evidence that Sherman has no problem promoting himself.  Part of me thinks that bit was done just for fun and to get some laughs.  However, there is a bigger part of me that realizes Sherman is a smart guy who knows what publicity / controversy can do to support his already All Pro on-field play.  I think that mentality may have spurred on those post-game comments.  Honestly, in this day and age I don't care if he wants to say something controversial to get people talking about him. After all, like Drake says -- get it while your here boy / cause all that hype don't feel the same next year boy.
Clearly, it worked.  Guess who has the hottest jersey sales in the month of January?  Guess whose Twitter follower's jumped from 268,000 to 567,000?  It's Wednesday and networks are still talking Sherman.  His popularity is rising faster than the probability of a 1st and goal Manning audible to a pass play.  Regardless of a win or loss in the Super Bowl I think we are going to be seeing plenty of Sherman in the off-season.

"Well I'm the best corner in the game!"

Maybe a more appropriate statement would have been:

 "Well I am the best corner on this team, who just so happens to play behind a great front 7.  They puts tons of pressure on opposing QB's thus, forcing throws to come out quicker than what said QB would like.  Additionally, the pressure prevents complex route combinations to come to fruition, as well as a lack of time for double-moves.  Guess what though, if I would happen to gamble wrong on a double-move I have the best cover safety in the league in Earl Thomas over-the-top to bail me out.  In summation, we are strong at all 11 positions and great schemes are devised to fit the personnel on this defense."

Not as flashy, but probably more accurate.

Personally, when I think best CB in the league I am picturing a guy who waits for the offense to break huddle, and then lines up across from that teams best WR each and every play taking them out of the game (think Revis 2009).

I couldn't find any stats on % of time that Sherman lined up at left corner but that is pretty much where he is always at.  I had the 2nd half of the game from Sunday recorded so I  charted where Sherman lined up.  Really small sample size, exactly one half of football to be exact but here is how it broke out.

1st and 10 - 15 total plays

• vs Boldin (6)
• vs Crabtree (4) - - (tipped play)
• vs No WR (2)
• vs bunch set - zone (2)
• vs Patton (1)

3rd and 5+ - 5 total plays

• vs Boldin (2)
• vs Boldin in slot (2)
• vs Crabtree (1)

All other - 11 total plays

• vs Boldin (3)
• vs Crabtree (4)
• vs Patton (2)
• vs No WR- zone (2)

-27 total plays - Lined up at left corner on 25/27
- Lined up in slot on left side 2/27 - - both 3rd and 5+

I am not going to pretend to be Peyton Manning sitting here breaking down film.  It looked like they moved into a zone a lot more times then the 4 times listed above but it was hard to tell.  The above at least presents a picture of who he lined up across from pre-snap.  After the snap it was hard to tell, but it didn't look like a ton of man coverage.

The only play that bothered me was a 3rd and 2 from close to midfield with 1:09 left.  Crabtree, Boldin, and Vernon Davis all lined up on the left side (offensive side) and Patton alone on the right.  Sherman held true to his left side (defensive side) of the defense and matched up with rookie Quinton Patton who had amassed 3 catches for 34 yards--for the SEASON.  The play played with Kap finding Crabtree down the sideline for a big 19 yard gain.  All I'm saying is that I don't think Darelle Revis would have been lining up against Quinton Patton in this spot back in 2009.  Lets not get it twisted here. I think Sherman is a big physical corner who obviously has great ball skills, a knack for the big play, and a flair for the dramatic.  However, I think that this play set-up speaks volumes that the Seattle Defense believes more in a scheme over the talent of any one player.