QB Rodgers avoids his friend Sherman
As two of the best players at their positions in their generation, 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman and Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers have formed a relationship built on deep respect.
They have nothing but praise for each other’s games and will exchange texts after one of them does something special. With all that they have accomplished, that can happen often.
“Just checking if he has a great game or I see something on tape where he’s in his bag and doing something crazy like some of the Hail Marys that he’s thrown,” Sherman said. “I text him, like, ‘Man, that’s crazy. I don’t know what you were thinking right there.’ He’s a good dude.”
Sherman hopes Rodgers doesn’t pull off any of those crazy plays he’s known for Monday night, when the 49ers (1-4) visit the Packers (2-2-1) in the seventh meeting between the megastars, including one in the postseason.
The two split the previous six meetings when Sherman was in Seattle, although the Seahawks won the most important in the NFC title game in January 2015. But any success Rodgers had didn’t come because he found some weakness in Sherman’s game. Instead, he approached it like most quarterbacks do, throwing as few passes to his right as possible, knowing Sherman will shut down that side of the field.
Rodgers has completed only nine passes for 90 yards against Sherman in those six games, according to SportRadar, targeting him only 13 times and throwing one interception. Almost half of that production came in the first meeting in 2012, when Rodgers went 4-for-5 for 44 yards. He has avoided him almost completely since then. Sherman has allowed only five catches for 46 yards in the last five meetings.
“When he’s on the field, you have to be smart throwing the ball his way,” Rodgers said. “That’s just the type of player he is. I mean, he’s a superintelligent guy, he’s got incredible football instincts and he can still impact the game in a number of different ways.”
Sherman still is striking fear in quarterbacks at 30 despite coming off major surgery on a ruptured Achilles tendon and nursing a calf injury that sidelined him for one game this season.
He has been targeted only 10 times on 145 pass plays this season, the second-lowest rate in the NFL.