The Back Story of the Rant
Since Richard Sherman's spectacular play that ended the 49er's super bowl dreams last Sunday evening, the television media has run video, audio, and comment endlessly. Not much of the coverage has been supportive of Sherman. To be truthful and in the interest of full disclosure, your Ostrich Killer is a Seahawk fan - and I think Sherman missed a real opportunity to show some class. He could have said something like:
"Great game. I would like to thank Jim Harbaugh for presenting me the privilege of driving the final nail into the coffin of his team's super bowl hopes."
Huh?
Well you might ask. So here's the back story.
1. Back in the day Harbaugh was coaching Stanford's football team. At the same time, Pete Carroll (now Seahawk coach) was coaching the USC team. Conference rivals. During one game Stanford ran up the score as they stomped USC. After the game Carroll said something like "What was that all about?" to Harbaugh, referring to the unnecessarily lopsided - and traditionally unsportsmanlike - score. Since that time the two coaches have harbored hard feelings toward each other.
2. Fast forward a few years. Richard Sherman is a wide receiver playing for Stanford under - you guessed it - Harbaugh. The two of them did not get along. Harbaugh labeled Sherman as mediocre, although I can't find confirmation that exact word was used. Sherman did not like that, let Harbaugh know, and mutual dislike developed.
3. Since 2010 when Sherman was drafted into the pros, Sherman has not hesitated to tell the world how good he is at corner, and has also backed up his claims with his play. We've all heard it isn't bragging if you can do it, right? That's Sherman. Imagine Harbaugh, now coaching the 49ers, seeing one of his former players who he dissed, do so well - - a living example of Harbaugh's failure to recognize and cultivate exceptional talent. The media commented many times since then on the lack of high regard these two have for each other. The media has also told the Harbaugh - Carroll story many times.
4. In recent history Crabtree and Sherman locked horns in such a way that Sherman felt insulted. This happened off the field at some social event. Hard feelings were born between the two men.
Knowing all this, the world should be able to figure out what happened in the championship game. But in case it hasn't let the Ostrich Killer be the first to take a stab at it:
The stage is set for the NFC Championship game. Fast forward a bit through the game to the point where SF has a 1st and 10 deep in Seattle territory with time running out, trailing by 6. A touchdown is needed NOW. What play is called? And who called it?
All day long the 49ers had thrown the ball only once into Sherman's coverage area, because they knew better than to do that. They knew better because - here's an impressive stat - NO TEAM ever completed a pass against him ALL SEASON LONG! So why, with the game and the championship on the line, did they try to do that? The short answer is Harbaugh's ego. Your Ostrich Killer thinks Harbaugh personally made that play call. His thinking: win the game, the championship, and embarrass / humiliate both Carroll and Sherman by having Crabtree (49ers best receiver) make the game-winning catch over Sherman. This sort of thinking and in-your-face approach to competitiveness is perfectly consistent with the thinking that would drive Harbaugh to run up a score against USC when he was coaching Stanford. In short, he has a history of that.
Can you offer any other explanation as to why they didn't choose to throw into some other (less dangerous) defender's coverage area? No? Me neither.
Harbaugh let his ego drag him into attempting to make a statement. The statement became, just for a moment, more important to him than the probability of winning. As you know, that didn't work.
Coaches who try to make statements during games don't always succeed. The Seahawk coaching staff learned that bitter lesson last year during the playoffs when, in Atlanta early in the game, they elected to go for the touchdown on 4th and goal, instead of kicking a 'gimme' field goal. They failed. Zero points. Field goal would have been three points. Margin of loss at game end: 2 points. The 'gimme' field goal taken early would have been the game winner. So statement-making is best not attempted. Take the points, play to win and forget egos.
Not a bad life lesson, come to think of it.
Knowing that, and expecting that Sherman knows and understands all of that, can you better grasp what Sherman was doing during that post-game rant? Yes, he was ego-crushing the two guys whose egos he would most like to crush. One could almost hear Harbaugh and Crabtree teeth grinding as Sherman reminded them and everyone else in his colorful pointed way that throwing into his coverage is a real bad idea.
And now, my last cup of coffee for the day. You're welcome.
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