Focus on How Richard Sherman Helps the Seattle Seahawks Win, Not Who He Covers

Who is the NFL’s best cornerback? Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks is a central figure in that discussion, and he brought that chatter upon himself with his infamous post-NFC Championship Game interview and his Twitter spat with Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson (among others).

That debate will continue to rage on with no definitive answer. Sherman, Peterson and Darrelle Revis of the New England Patriots each rank among the players who make a legitimate case to be considered No. 1. That answer will always be subjective, however, and have no effect on which teams win and lose games.

It’s fair to question whether Sherman, who typically lines up as Seattle’s left cornerback on every play, has the same skill set as Revis and Peterson, who have regularly been moved around defensive formations to mirror opponents’ No. 1 wide receivers.

Nonetheless, it’s clear that Sherman, whose Seahawks won the Super Bowl last season and opened their 2014 campaign with a 36-16 win over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, helps his team win as much as if not more than any other cornerback in the NFL.

The Case for Sherman Being the Best

It became rapidly apparent that the Seattle Seahawks landed a steal when they drafted Sherman, who began his Stanford career at wide receiver, in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft.

Sherman started 10 games as a rookie, made four interceptions and quickly made a name for himself with his play. He’s been named a first-team All-Pro and recorded eight interceptions in each of his two seasons since.

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

A physical cornerback with a listed height of 6’3”, Sherman is changing the face of the cornerback prototype. He doesn’t have standout speed, but his length, strength and leaping ability give him a distinct advantage over most cornerbacks in going up against bigger wide receivers.

In 2013, Sherman led all NFL cornerbacks who played at least 25 percent of their teams’ snaps in yards allowed per coverage snap (0.63), cover snaps per target (9.6) and per reception (18.9) and in quarterback rating against (36.2), while his eight interceptions also led the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

The Case Against Sherman Being the Best

Because his role is to play on one side of the field, Sherman’s coverage matchups are privy to the offensive game plans of Seattle’s opponents.

That has steadily led to a decrease in Sherman’s matchups against No. 1 wide receivers, as teams have begun moving their top wideouts to the opposite side of the field, away from Sherman.

According to Pro Football Focus’ Ben Stockwell, just 27 percent of Sherman’s 2013 snaps came against opponents’ top wideouts. Peterson, by contrast, went up against No. 1 targets 55 percent of the time.

Peterson, during a May interview with Bickley and Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (h/t Adam Green of ArizonaSports.com), used that as ammunition to assert that Sherman is an inferior player.

"

He's only covering space, he's not really covering a guy. At the end of the day he has great stats, he has great playmaking ability -- I'm not taking that away from him because he is a good corner. But as far as being a shutdown corner, man-to-man guy, in my eyes, I don't believe he's that.

"

On Thursday night, Sherman didn’t cover a No. 1 wide receiver at all. Instead, the Packers decided to line up Jarrett Boykin on his side of the field throughout the game, while playing Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb on the other side of the field, where they could match up against cornerbacks such as Byron Maxwell, Jeremy Lane and Marcus Burley instead of the two-time All-Pro.

Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and current NBC analyst Hines Ward told Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman that he believes Sherman is “not the best, because he doesn't do what a Revis or Peterson do, and that's cover the best."

"How can you be best when you're on a nobody? Sherman takes himself out of the game by not covering the best receiver. Sherman is top three, but he's not in the class with the best."

It’s fair to say that Sherman doesn’t take on as many challenging competitions as some of his counterparts. It’s inaccurate, however, to say that Sherman isn’t still making a huge impact on the game; Thursday night’s opener exemplified how Sherman can be a prime asset to his team without ever having a pass thrown in his direction.

Sherman Does His Job to Help His Team Win

Sherman himself might care about being considered the best cornerback in the NFL, but the Seahawks as a team are far more concerned with winning. So they’re not going to play Sherman in the way that best showcases his skill set but rather how they feel he can best increase their chances of victory.

So far, the Seahawks have been incredibly successful running a defense with Sherman playing one side of the field. They have ranked in the top 10 in total yards allowed and points allowed in each of Sherman’s first three seasons with the team, including first-place rankings in yards allowed last year and in points allowed each of the last two years.

All the while, Seattle has a combined record of 36-18 between the regular season and playoffs since 2011.

Don’t expect the role of Sherman, who inked a four-year, $56 million contract extension this offseason, to change as long as the Seahawks keep winning and their defense keeps dominating.

That shouldn’t be reason to devalue Sherman’s play.

Sherman’s a cornerback; he's not the defensive coordinator. His job isn’t to devise the defensive game plan, it’s to take care of his responsibility. That responsibility has been to lock down one side of the field, and he’s done it exceptionally well, especially on Thursday night.

If you draw all your conclusions from a game off its box score, you’ll be apt to believe Sherman didn’t make much of an impact Thursday.

Sherman’s Thursday game can be downgraded for his missed tackle on a run by Packers running back James Starks, which deprived him of his opportunity to put a number on the box score. Overall, however, Sherman had a huge impact on the Green Bay offensive game plan, which only netted the Packers two touchdowns and 255 total yards.

Of the 33 passes Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw Thursday night, only three of them went to the right side of the field, according to a Pro Football Focus passing chart. None of those throws came against a receiver Sherman was covering, and none of them went more than two yards past the line of scrimmage.

The Packers might have made it easier on Sherman by giving him a constant matchup with Boykin, rather than their more explosive wideouts in Nelson and Cobb, but they made it more difficult on themselves in the process.

Rodgers, who had a league-high success percentage throwing right in 2013, according to PFF’s Steve Palazzolo, instead looked to be uncharacteristically forcing throws to other areas of the field, such as the dangerous deep ball he threw across the field in the middle of Thursday's third quarter.

As you can see in the screenshots below, Rodgers might have had a better possibility to throw by looking to Davante Adams (No. 17) up the right sideline, but he never even looked that way with Sherman covering him. Instead, Rodgers attempted a nearly impossible throw back across his body more than 45 yards downfield, and it allowed Maxwell to make a play on the ball.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Maxwell also recorded an interception earlier in the third quarter. The starting cornerback opposite Sherman was responsible for allowing nine receptions for 79 yards, according to PFF, but that was because the Packers insisted on throwing his direction repeatedly. That didn’t help them find much rhythm: Only two of Green Bay’s 10 drives went more than 35 yards.

"The routes that they caught on Byron (Maxwell) were routes you can catch on anybody, they were really nicely-timed underneath routes, that can happen," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Friday, according to John Boyle of The Daily Herald. "There’s no issue at this point and no reason to do anything differently than what we do, but there may come a time."

There aren’t many cornerbacks in the NFL who can dictate an opponent’s offensive game plan, but that’s what Sherman did on Thursday.

Certainly, a player of Sherman’s caliber is expected to shut down Boykin, who is coming off a breakout year (49 catches for 681 yards and three touchdowns in 2013) but remains Green Bay’s No. 3 target. But the Packers’ evident refusal to even challenge Sherman in this contest shows how intimidating his coverage skills and playmaking ability can be.

Unsurprisingly, the never-shy cornerback weighed in early Friday morning on the criticism.

The chatter over whether Sherman is as good as he is reputed to be will continue all season, no matter how opposing offenses game-plan against him. But as PFF’s Pete Damilatis said Friday, the increased responsibilities some other cornerbacks might have does not necessarily mean they are better cornerbacks than Sherman.

Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL Draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow @Dan_Hope