Richard Sherman’s deja vu moment against Arizona

By Brady Henderson

Richard Sherman’s second-quarter interception of John Skelton on Sunday had a familiar feeling for the Seahawks cornerback.

This time, though, he found the end zone, which he wasn’t able to do during a similar-looking interception against the Cardinals last season.

You may remember that one. It came in the fourth quarter of Seattle’s Week 17 loss in Arizona. Sherman jumped in front of a Cardinals receiver to pick off Skelton’s pass at Arizona’s 45-yard line. He raced 33 yards up the left sideline before he was caught at the 12 by speedy running back LaRod Stephens-Howling.

That play came to mind – both mine and Sherman’s – when he picked off an underthrown Skelton pass at Arizona’s 19-yard line on Sunday – again near the left sideline – and returned it for a touchdown.

“Yeah, I definitely had a flashback,” he said. “My teammates still get one me for that. They’re like, ‘You still haven’t scored. You keep getting picks and you can’t score. Man, when you gonna score one?’ So I was like, ‘Oh man, I can’t get caught on this one.'”

He didn’t.

“I think he was trying to throw a back-shoulder fade and I happened to get a foot in the ground,” Sherman said. “Once I got my hands on it, Earl [Thomas] did a great job of blocking and then it was just full speed.”

That was Sherman’s first career touchdown. He picked off Skelton later in the second quarter, giving him six interceptions this season and 10 over the last two.

Four of his 10 picks have been courtesy of Skelton. Sherman had a brilliant sideline interception in Week 1, keeping his feet in bounds while extending for a pass that Skelton appeared to be throwing away.

Related: Sherman helps Seahawks force season-high eight turnovers.