Green Bay’s Adams will be a marked man
Packers receiver may find wherever he goes, star cornerback Sherman is sure to follow
Much of the discussion prior to Sunday’s NFC championship game centres on San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman.
Specifically, on whether he’ll be matched up one on one against Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, no matter which side of the field Adams lines up on. Typically, Sherman plays only on the left side of the Niners’ defence.
“I don’t care, either way,” Sherman said.
“He’s a great player. He’s somebody that we’ve obviously got to account for where he’s on the field at all time. But in terms of individual matchups, it means nothing to me.”
Sherman, 31, is winding up his second season in San Francisco, after spending his first seven campaigns with the Niners’ archrivals, the Seattle Seahawks. He has revived his career here, after his final season in Seattle in 2017 was cut short when he required surgery on both Achilles.
Sherman was named to his fifth Pro Bowl in his nine-year pro career, and was a second-team All-pro selection.
Adams, meantime, has never been better. The 27-year-old was slowed in September and missed all of October with a painful turf toe injury. Thus, his drop in production ended a two-year Pro Bowl run.
But make no mistake, Adams might be playing the best football of his six-year NFL career right now. Since Dec. 1, Adams has caught 45 passes for six touchdowns.
Rodgers this week said the on-field rapport he now shares with Adams equates to the chemistry he had with wideout Jordy Nelson in the last few years of the latter’s time in Green Bay, which stretched from 2008-17.
Adams arguably delivered his most impactful NFL performance in Green Bay’s 28-23 defeat of Seattle last Sunday in an NFC divisional playoff game. His 160 receiving yards set a new Packers playoff record.
Rodgers attributes Adams’ ascension to the work he’s put in, especially down the stretch this season. Now that Adams can instantly recall various ad libs from identical game situations that occurred weeks or even years before shows he’s developing the same kind of chemistry Rodgers had with Nelson.
“He’s realizing how important that is, to improve,” Rodgers said.
“That’s one part of his game that’s definitely changed. Being able to recall those things in those moments is how we’re able to get on the same page.”
The first time these teams met this season, here on Nov. 24, Rodgers was harassed constantly in the pocket by San Fran’s relentless pass rush. He targeted Adams 12 times, but connected for just seven completions, for 43 yards and a late meaningless touchdown.
On Thursday, 49ers defensive co-ordinator Robert Saleh refused to tip his cards as to how he plans to deploy Sherman in the rematch.
“We have a philosophy on how we operate around here, and that doesn’t mean we don’t look at every possible avenue,” Saleh said Thursday. “But I’ll stay away from that (question), I’m sorry.”
Packers head coach and chief offensive strategist Matt Lafleur went there, as far as whether he’ll deliberately deploy Adams more often on the opposite side of Sherman, against Ahkello Witherspoon and Emmanuel Moseley, a pair of cornerbacks both of whom have struggled occasionally.
“It just depends what you’re trying to get accomplished,” Lafleur said. “We move (Adams) around quite a bit, so he’s going to end up all over the place.”
Are the Packers expecting Sherman to be deployed on his usual left side most of the time?
“That’s what we’re anticipating,” Lafleur said, “but we’ll have a plan in place if that doesn’t happen.”
Added Rodgers on Friday:
“I’m not sure if they’re going to move Sherm around, but we’re for sure going to move Davante around.”
Sherman was asked on Thursday about times in the past when he shadowed a top-flight receiver wherever he lined up. It happened a few times, he said, such as against Atlanta’s Julio Jones, and against San Francisco’s Anquan Bolden in 2013, and Cincinnati’s A.J. Green.
“Like I said, we don’t draw up the defence,” Sherman said. “I don’t call the defence. Coach tells me what to do, and I do it.
“Does it help us win the game? Is it going to help the defence? Is it going to help us limit their explosives? Then I’ll do it.”