Vet Sherman proving he's still trouble
MIAMI — Patrick Mahomes is well aware of the danger that lurks in Richard Sherman’s neighborhood. But he will not shy away from throwing his way.
“No, I mean obviously I’m going to know where he’s at,” Mahomes said. “You have to. But with the guys that I have, I’m going to still do what we do, I’m going to go through our progressions and try to make plays and then try to not let him make any big plays that could affect the game.”
Sherman has an interception in each of the 49ers’ playoff victories and his chess match with Mahomes will be a critical game-within-the-game.
“Obviously he’s physically extremely gifted,” Mahomes said. “He has a lot of size, speed. He has great technique. But I think the biggest thing’s how smart he is and how he’s able to really understand the whole scheme and not just his position. You could tell that he’s played in this scheme a lot with Seattle and then now with the 49ers, obviously it’s a little bit different.
“But he understands it, and he understands that when he can jump routes, when he has to be in certain positions. And I think sometimes he’s in a position that you don’t expect him to be at and he takes away the main part of your read. It’s just about that battle of having to know where he’s at on the field ’ cause he can disrupt the game.”
49ers safety Jimmie Ward said he doesn’t expect Mahomes to be reticent about targeting Sherman at the right time.
“I feel like he’s going to throw the ball anywhere, unless Richard Sherman catches an interception or two, and then maybe then he’ll shy away from him, but I feel like Patrick Mahomes is playing like he’s the best player in the league, so I don’t feel like he’s going to shy away,” Ward told The Post. “I feel like he’s going to throw it wherever, where he feels like he has to throw it.”
Sherman was the defiant, rant-fueled cornerback in the Legion of Boom when the Seahawks routed Peyton Manning and the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. He has fashioned a remarkable comeback from rupturing his Achilles’ tendon in his age 30 season.
“It was so funny that a lot of people, critics, tried to count him out,” Ward said.
Sherman, two months shy of 32, remains an elite, whether Darelle Revis disparages him as a Cover 3 corner or not.
“He still can run — most people think he can’t,” safety Jaquiski Tartt told The Post. “He’s slowed up a little bit, but he still can run and do his job at the highest level. He also can come up and hit in the run game like a safety, so that’s what you want in a corner.”
Sherman is the unquestioned leader of the 49ers secondary.
“No. 1, I think that he has a great sense for the game,” cornerback Emmanuel Moseley said. “He’s been playing this game long enough not where he can recognize formations and recognize plays, then once he sees those plays he just goes and gets the ball.”
Sherman is an invaluable resource on gameday for his young secondary mates.
“He’s very cerebral, man,” nickel back K’Waun Williams said. “He knows the game in and out. He’s seen a lot of football, so he’s able to just be able to diagnose plays before it even happened. He always keeps his composure, always understands situations.”
And he is always reminding his pupils to “do your job” in the heat of battle.
“Just a great leader,” Williams said. “Great command of the room and just our defense. Whenever we need a message or if he sees something he always points it out, always giving young guys pointers. He sends the right message at the right time. “
And Sherman, a former fifth-round draft choice and tormentor of former 49ers WR Michael Crabtree, remains driven by the giant chip on his shoulders
“I think,” Tartt said, “he had a chip on his shoulders when he was born.”