To say Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman isn’t afraid to speak his mind is an understatement. Just this year Sherman has stated the NFL’s ratings have dropped for being ‘no fun’, the NFL is a bottom line business, how he wants owners to pay for their own stadiums, and that Roger Goodell’s proposed ejection rule was ridiculous.
This time around, Richard Sherman’s target for criticism isn’t the league as a whole or Commissioner Goodell. Instead, it’s Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
When the Seahawks faced the Panthers during Sunday Night Football this past weekend, Newton sat out the very first play. The reason why? He was being punished for not wearing a tie on the trip from Northern California to Seattle, therefore not conforming with team dress code.
As a result, Derek Anderson started at quarterback and Sherman was shocked.
“I thought maybe there was an injury to Cam that they may have been withholding or he sprained his hand in warmups,” Sherman said. “Crazier things have happened. Then once he came in we didn’t really understand what was going on.”
Later on, Sherman and the Seahawks found out why Newton was really out for the first play and that’s where the following reasonable take down quotes come from:
“You’ve got accountability,” Sherman said. “You’ve got to hold everybody accountable the same. When you start treating guys different it’s a slippery slope.”
“For one-day trips, it’s more formal,” he said. “You wear polo shirts or jeans or something nicer. Very ambigious but nicer. But put your shoes on — he doesn’t like me wearing my Uggs. For two-day tripts it’s more casual because it’s obviously going to be a time change and a longer flight, so he allows us to wear kind of whatever you put on.”
Okay, so maybe the above comments weren’t as heated as some of Sherman’s other presser quotes or interview antics.
However, Sherman did show that he isn’t afraid to go after Newton. After all, the Panthers are currently 4-8 and it seems like there have been more stories about Newton’s outfits before and after games than his performance.
Sherman wasn’t the only member of the Seahawks to be caught off guard about the news . Reportedly, Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett were confused and surprised when they heard the news.
“Are you serious?’’ asked Bennett. “Wow.’’
“I guess if you’re going to make an example, make an example out of your starting quarterback,’’ Avril said. “That’s weird.”
While Sherman admitted he agreed with Panthers’ head coach Ron Rivera’s decision to suspend Newton, he wasn’t afraid to hold back either on how silly the matter was.
“If you are asking have we ever run into anything like that? We haven’t,” Sherman said. “Pete is a pretty cool guy. Don’t be disrespectful and most guys respect the things he says and are pretty good about that.”
