Richard Sherman's Thursday Night Football Performance Didn't Prove Anything

Let's kick this off with an obvious fact from Thursday Night Football: The Seattle Seahawks looked as dominant as ever in their win against the Green Bay Packers. Cornerback Richard Sherman is widely heralded as the NFL's best at the position—and that may be true—however, depending on who you talk to, he didn't exactly prove it on Thursday.

Sherman wasn't targeted a single time by quarterback Aaron Rodgers. That's quite impressive considering Rodgers is regarded as one of the league's best signal-callers and is probably a future Hall of Fame candidate. Although, due to the Seahawks' defensive scheme—cornerbacks remain on the same side of the field at all times—Sherman wasn't always covering Green Bay's best receiver, Jordy Nelson.

Bleacher Report's Matt Bowen tweeted Sherman's assignment and results:

Even Rodgers admitted to staying away from Sherman after the game, according to Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead. He writes, "Sherman confronted Rodgers after the game, because that's who he is, and appeared to say, 'you avoided me, did you?' to which Rodgers appears to respond, 'yup' and walked to the locker room."

While some came away very impressed with Sherman's ability to dominate by simply being on the field, others remained skeptical. Darnell Docket of the Arizona Cardinals was one such skeptic. He compared Sherman to one of his teammates:

Packers wide receiver Jarrett Boykin—who was blanketed by Sherman for most of the game—wasn't ready to praise the cornerback during a press conference, via Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports: "It's not frustrating. I understand it takes a whole team and a unit to click, so I go out there and do my job to the best of my ability. You have to play your game, let the game come to you....I mean [Sherman]'s a smart corner but I don't see him any different than any other corner. He's beatable."

It appears the only way to garner the full respect of peers, analysts and onlookers is to put up gaudy numbers. Sherman took to Twitter to post a statement that summed up his stance on the matter:

A debate arises from this situation. Is it better for a cornerback to defend a bevy of passes in a single game, or to be completely avoided by a prolific NFL offense?

Perhaps Sherman didn't prove anything on Thursday night. Maybe his zero targets are a bit overblown due to a Packers game plan that was supposed to seek out the most favorable matchups. That's why the debate will rage on.

Sherman's been beat before, but he's also made some of the league's best receivers look like they belong on a high school junior varsity squad—in 2013, he was avoided like the plague, yet led the league with eight interceptions.

Luckily, we only have to wait until September 14 to watch him face off against Philip Rivers, Keenan Allen and the resurgent San Diego Chargers offense. If the impending Week 2 contest yields the same result, the adage "less is more" will certainly play into Sherman's favor.

To some, Sherman didn't prove anything on Thursday night. Although, that appears to be fine with him.