Seahawks’ Richard Sherman calls NFL ‘hypocritical’ for scheduling Thursday night games
Dec 13, 2016, 5:10 PM
"We're the last ones to get the middle finger," Richard Sherman said of Seattle's Thursday night game. (AP)
(AP)
It’s no secret that NFL players by and large dislike playing games on Thursday, especially since those games usually come just four days after a previous one. And not that it should be a surprise, but you can definitely include outspoken Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman on the list of detractors of Thursday night football.
Sherman called Thursday night games an “absolute poopfest” on Tuesday, ahead of the Seahawks’ scheduled meeting with the Los Angeles Rams, and he said it shows a lack of regard for players as it takes away three days they’re usually given to recover after a contest.
“It’s just no regard, it’s hypocritical,” Sherman said, adding Thursday night games are in his “top 5” least favorite things about playing in the NFL. “They make this huge stance about player safety and then they put the players in tremendous danger.
“… Congratulations NFL you did it again, but they’ve been doing it all season. We’re the last ones to get the middle finger.”
Sherman also said that the quality of the games suffer from the short weeks created by Thursday games.
“Yeah you can tell, but you can’t tell because guys are prideful when they play hard. They’re going to go out there and give it 100 percent regardless of what the circumstances are because that’s how most of them are built, but you can tell. As a player, everybody is banged up so everybody is moving slower, it’s not really going to show to the naked eye. They’re like, ‘Oh, the play is sloppier,’ but the play isn’t any sloppier, teams are running the same plays they’ve been running all season.”
Sherman also saved some his harshest words for the NFL Players Association for not fighting to take Thursday games off the schedule.
“They do not,” he answered when asked if the union speaks with players about what they want before they negotiate collective bargaining agreements.”We’ll be well aware come the next CBA negotiations about things like this. There’s really not much you can do right now. It’s part of the revenue, etc, etc. I’m sure the league has something else up their sleeve. We might have a Friday night game planned, who knows.”
