When talking with Bay Area reporters Wednesday, Colin Kaepernick took what may or may not have been a little shot at the physical play of Seattle’s defensive backs. Kaepernick was asked if the play of the Seahawks secondary lets them get away with stacking the box to stop the run, and the quarterback responded, “I think they get away with a lot of things on defense. The biggest thing is we have to go out and execute. It’s not really something they did, it’s what we didn’t do.”
Was Kaepernick saying that the Seahawks get away with too much physical play, maybe some defensive holding, as Jim Harbaugh suggested last year? Maybe, maybe not. No follow-up was asked about that, so maybe Kaepernick just meant it as a compliment, as if to say, “The Seattle Seahawks defense is so talented they can get away with taking risks to stop the run and the pass, things a less talented defense might not be willing to attempt. I have great respect for what they do.” Well actually, that’s too long of an answer for Kaepernick. Whatever Kaepernick meant, Richard Sherman was asked about the comment, and as you’d expect, the Seahawks corner had a good response.
“We got away with three picks, two fumbles, five turnovers,” Sherman said. “We got away with a 29-3 victory. That’s the way it looked to me.”
A few other highlights from Sherman’s weekly meeting with the press.
Asked about the defense’s ability to turn tipped passes into interceptions: “It’s like throwing meat out to wolves. Everybody wants it, everybody wants the ball.”
On playing against Gus Bradley: “That’s going to be interesting, man. Gus is such a great coach, such a fun guy to play for, such a fun coach to be around. it’s going to be tough, because obviously we’ve got to go out there and do our jobs effectively and hopefully shut them out, get the ball and get after it as much as we can, but it’s tough because he’s such a great coach and such a great friend of a lot of guys on this team. So it’s not something guys want to necessarily do if they didn’t have to, but we have to.”
“He was constant energy, man. He was always a positive guy not matter what happened in the game. From the beginning of training camp to the end, from the beginning of the season to the end, he was upbeat, high energy every single day. First time I met him, I was like, ‘Man, this guys just drank a Red Bull. There’s no way he can maintain this throughout a whole season.’ But as you watch Gus, every day, every single day, he’s giving you the same energy, the same freakin’ positivity, and you just can’t beat that. And he gives you hilarious stories on game day. I kind of miss those pregame… He’s a hilarious story teller.”
On the way Seattle’s defensive backs compete with each other: “I think that drives us more than anything. It’s like playing against your brothers. It’s like, ‘Man, he made a big play; I’ve got to make a big play.’ We all got picks, somebody is trying to force a fumble, and BB was itching like, ‘Man, I need to be out there.’ It’s really like playing with your brothers out there. You want to one-up them every time. Somebody gets an interception, you’re happy, like, ‘Man, we just made a play, but it’s my turn. It’s my turn to make a play, it’s my turn to do something.’ That type of competition, that kind of drive within our position group is what’s helped us succeed.”
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