Seahawks’ Richard Sherman: No regrets, no apologies over outburst

RENTON – Richard Sherman stands by everything he said and did during his latest sideline outburst. Seattle’s cornerback said Tuesday that he has no regrets, made no apologies and has not backed off at all following an incident from the Seahawks’ win over Los Angeles last Thursday, when he shouted at coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator in frustration over a play-call.

Sherman defended his actions after the game and did so again Tuesday during his weekly press conference, which at one point got contentious when he took exception to one of the questions. On his way out, Sherman threatened to ruin the career of the media member who had asked the question – 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jim Moore – and later tweeted that he regretted the way he handled himself.

Listen: “Danny, Dave and Moore” on Jim’s exchange with Sherman

Sherman stood firm on his actions from Thursday night, though. And he said Seattle’s locker room is tight enough to avoid any hard feelings.

“Um, no,” he said when asked if he has any regrets about the incident. “I think sometimes things need to happen like that. Obviously, people need something to talk about this week, so you’re going to talk about that. But it worked out. The way our team works, it worked out fine and we’re moving forward.”

The initial incident occurred during the third quarter of Thursday night’s game, when Seattle drove to the Rams’ 1-yard line and threw a pass on first down to Jimmy Graham that was nearly intercepted. Seattle then ran a running play on second down that was stuffed before Russell Wilson hit Doug Baldwin for a touchdown on third down.

Afterward, Sherman referenced the infamous ending to Super Bowl XLIX – when Wilson was intercepted from the 1-yard line – as his reasoning for disagreeing with the decision to throw the ball. Asked Tuesday if his thoughts on the decision were any different after Seattle scored on a throw from the 1 two plays after the near pick, he said they weren’t.

Carroll said the two met for about an hour Friday morning and that Sherman “knows that wasn’t right,” which was contradicted by what Sherman said Tuesday. He described it as a “good” and “productive” meeting with Carroll, saying that the conversation focused in part on strategy and that they explained their different lines of thinking. But he made it clear that he doesn’t feel he did anything wrong. Sherman referenced Carroll’s No. 1 rule for his players, which is to protect the team.

“It goes both ways and that’s what me and Pete talked about,” he said.

The sideline incident dominated the questions during Sherman’s press conference (which was moved up a day this week because of Seattle’s Saturday game). He elaborated in some of his responses and was terse in others, giving a “no” and nothing more when asked if he’s worried about his outburst possibly being divisive. He became defensive as the press conference went on and took issue with one particular question from Moore, who asked Sherman if he thinks he has a better handle than Bevell on the right plays to call.

“No, I just had a, we just had a prior experience,” Sherman said, referring to Super Bowl XLIX. “So we talked about it. But let me guess: you have a better play-call. Let me guess: you have better experience.”

When Moore said that’s not the case, Sherman said: “Then you should probably kind of, you know, stop.”

The press conference ended shortly after. As Sherman was walking out of the room, Moore thanked him for his time. Sherman told Moore, “You don’t want to go there. You do not. I’ll ruin your career.”

Moore: “You’ll ruin my career?”

Sherman: “Yes. Yes.”

Moore: “How are you going to do that?”

Sherman: “I’ll make sure you don’t get your media pass anymore.”

Moore: “Oh, is that right?”

Sherman: “Yes, yes it is.”

Sherman later tweeted: “I appreciate the role the media plays and they have a tough job. I let it get personal today and I regret that. Next one should be fun.” He followed that up with a tweet that read, “#Petesaididontcontrolcredentials” along with a laughing emoji.

Bevell said Sherman sought him out Friday and that they had a “really good conversation” – even if it didn’t change Sherman’s mind. Asked if he thinks it’s ever a defensive player’s place to do what Sherman did, Bevell paused and said, “No, I don’t.”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Bevell said when asked if he said as much to Sherman. “It’s something that we talked about, that we moved on, and I’m comfortable with the conversation that we had and what he said to me. He’s still going to have his opinion. Everybody is going to have their own opinion. You could sit there and try to convince him and show this, show that, but it’s not going to serve a good purpose. We got to a good place, I love him, I think he’s a heck of a player, I love that he’s on our defense, I love the competitive nature that he has, the fire that he has because it doesn’t only fire up the defense but it fires up our offensive guys. When you watch guys that care that much and they compete that hard, I think those are all positive things.

“I know Coach (Carroll) talked about being able to control that and that’s something that I’m sure he’s working on.”

Darrell Bevell: Sherman sought him out Friday, they had a good talk. When asked, said it’s not a player’s place to question a play-call. pic.twitter.com/loDujMOVvO

— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) December 21, 2016

Earlier this season, during Seattle’s win over Atlanta, Sherman got into a heated shouting match with defensive coordinator Kris Richard after a coverage breakdown led to a long touchdown. While his latest sideline outburst was also directed at coaches, Sherman’s disapproval of the decision to throw the ball could have been perceived as a slight toward Graham and Baldwin. But he said both of them understand where he was coming from and were OK with what he did.

“Oh yeah, 100 percent. Like I said, our team is a lot different than other teams and a lot different than I guess the public,” he said. “The public just needs an opinion, a criticism. They don’t even understand that’s why most people can’t ever get to this point, get to the point of success, because most people live their lives with their foot on the break, hoping not to run into people. We kinda live our lives with the foot on the gas trying to a search for success. We push the limits, push the envelope because we’re competitors and we know what it takes to get to the mountain top. Most people don’t understand that. It’s hard for them to comprehend what’s going on here, but it’s not hard for my teammates because we see eye to eye on it.”