What Darelle Revis got wrong about Richard Sherman

Future Hall-of-Fame cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Richard Sherman have been sparring for years. Here’s where Revis is wrong about Sherman.

With 10:48 left in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game, and the 49ers up 34-13, Aaron Rodgers hit receiver Davante Adams deep on a 65-yard pass play with cornerback Richard Sherman racing behind.

It did not go unnoticed, particularly by one former NFL cornerback (and likely future Hall-of-Famer) who has been Sherman’s bete noire for years. Sherman, as is his wont, was quick to respond.

The 49ers won the game, 37-20, and Sherman picked off a Rodgers arm punt with 1:59 left in the game to seal the deal, but Revis’ evisceration of Sherman’s man-on-man coverage stung more than most would have. Primarily because, as much as Sherman was inclined to bark back, he also has a great deal of respect for Revis, who at his peak was as much a shutdown cornerback as any we’ve ever seen.

“Revis and I both play at the line of scrimmage, but he plays it totally different than I do,” Sherman wrote in an article for the Players Tribune in 2016, when he played for the Seahawks. “People look at us and say, ‘They’re both at the line of scrimmage, so they’re both playing press. So it’s the same.’ That’s what it looks like — but we’re actually playing two different versions of press.”

Sherman elaborated from there.

Revis uses a technique some corners call soft-shoeing. It’s where you stand at the line of scrimmage — in press — and slowly shuffle back off the line at the snap and mirror the receiver. It’s a pretty common way of playing press, and Revis is very adept at it.

The technique we use in Seattle is a little different. Ours is more of a true press. Some people call it a read-step, or a kick-step. The real difference is that it’s more aggressive than soft-shoeing. Instead of backpedaling and mirroring the receiver, we stand in there. We don’t give. We don’t take a step until the receiver’s first movement, and then we kick back in the direction the receiver releases. If you guess wrong, and you kick the wrong way, you’re kind of done. You’ll have a lot of ground to make up. So that instinctive first step at the line of scrimmage is crucial.

Most guys would be terrified to play our technique because we don’t move. We get our hands on the receiver right at the line, and we stay in his pocket throughout the play — we don’t wait to see where he’s going to go before we get on his hip.

But that’s what I do well. I’m stepping and kicking, and Revis is soft-shoeing. That’s one of the reasons it’s so difficult to compare us. My technique doesn’t work for him, and his doesn’t work for me. It’s just two different ways to skin a cat.

So, the best way to get under Sherman’s skin is to minimize the technique of a guy who had to fight to get to where he was. A fifth-round pick out of Stanford in 2011, Sherman still carries every slight he’s ever received as ammunition for the next game. And the next. And the next. No doubt, he’ll use Revis’ comments to fire himself up for San Francisco’s matchup against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.

Another thing about Revis’ comments that likely disturbed Sherman is that they went more to perception than reality, and Sherman has no respect whatsoever for you if you don’t do your homework. I’ve watched tape with the guy, and I can verify that. You had best come prepared.

On Green Bay’s first drive, Sherman played right cornerback on two of five snaps, shadowing Adams on three plays. On Green Bay’s second drive, Sherman was on Adams twice — once from each side. He played two snaps at left cornerback, two snaps at right cornerback, and one in a satellite move safety position in which he motioned from the center of the formation to the left side.

But for the most part, Sherman stayed where he was — he had 50 snaps at left cornerback, and four on the right side. Those were the first four snaps of the season he’d played on that side, while he’s had 853 on the left side. This plays to type — in 2018, he had 718 snaps on the left side, and none on the right side. But he did have snaps at the linebacker and safety levels, mostly to disguise coverage early and send Sherman out wide after the snap.

That he doesn’t tend to move with top receivers from one side of the field to the other is something his detractors have held against him for years, but as Sherman himself told me more than once when he played for the Seahawks, he’s doing what his coaches want him to do. It isn’t as if he’s throwing tantrums in the defensive backs room, demanding that he play left cornerback all the time.

“I did what my coach told me to do,” Sherman said after this game. “Plan was to play over there for a few series to just give them something to think about and then go back to our normal status quo defense. I think it worked. There were a few plays where they ran double moves, where I think they wanted me to be on the other side and I was on that side. And, there were plays where I think we confused them just with where we were on the field and how I was moving. But, it was fun. It’s always fun to play and mix it up a little bit.”

In addition, Sherman patrolling one side of the field adds a level of positional comfort to the right cornerback, whoever he may be, and generally speaking, Sherman’s presence on the left side eliminates a part of the opposing passing game. This changes from week to week — he has been targeted 56 times this season — but the Packers targeted him just five total times in two games, and he allowed just two catches.

Of course, one of those catches was the 65-yarder to Adams, which got the whole thing with Revis started again.

(Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports)

As to the idea that Sherman is merely a Cover-3 cornerback buttressed by scheme… well, that doesn’t really wash. Per Sports Info Solutions, in the 2019 regular season, Sherman played in a Cover-3 scheme on 155 of his coverage snaps, allowing 15 receptions on 24 targets for 159 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. To put it in perspective, Casey Hayward of the Chargers led all cornerbacks with 289 snaps in Cover-3. Seattle’s Tre Flowers, one of the guys charged with trying to replace Sherman, finished second with 216.

As far as concepts requiring him to man up against receivers (Cover-0, Cover-1, and Cover-2 Man), Sherman had 90 coverage snaps, allowing six catches on 10 targets for 51 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and two passes defensed. Not exactly a liability. Sherman has been beaten before on deep routes by vertical receivers from the middle of the field to the seam, as he was by Adams on the play referenced above, but he’s been one of the best boundary cornerbacks in the NFL for a long time, and to throw a boundary fade against him is generally to die a thousand deaths. Every great cornerback is great at different things.

The 49ers have also played a lot of Quarters (Cover-4) this season, and in that coverage, Sherman has 113 snaps, allowing seven completions on 14 targets for 58 yards, one touchdown (the only touchdown he’s allowed this season), and three interceptions. Sherman also had 20 snaps in Cover-6, and a handful in prevent. So, to say that he’s just a Cover-3 guy doesn’t do Revis any favors, nor does it reflect Revis’ obvious football intelligence — you don’t get to be as great as Revis once was at that position without a formidable amount of knowledge and understanding.

Of course, this is all water under the bridge, except to Sherman, who will undoubtedly use it over the next two weeks to fire himself up for the third Super Bowl of his career. And it’s a reminder to any analyst — whether a former player or not — to deal in facts as opposed to assumptions.