It’s ludicrous that the NF fined Richard Sherman for his hit on the Buffalo kicker. What the heck? C’mon, get real.
Sherman is right for what he did, and he reaffirmed that while speaking to the media today (Nov. 10). Put simply, he was off-side on the play and if he had stopped the Bills would have completed a field goal kick that likely would have been good.
But, and this is the key point, there was no whistle stopping the play. If there had been, Sherman would have been penalized for roughing the kicker and the Bills would have moved close to the end zone with a relatively easy field goal attempt.
Since there was no whistle, Sherman is right to go for the block, and replays show he got to the ball first before rolling into the kicker. If he had stopped, the Bills would have had a free play, and a possible successful field goal kick. So Sherman did the right thing and continued with the play and the block and the hit on the kicker.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is famous for following through on a free play to make big plays, and often touchdown passes. Sherman is a Stanford grad and smart enough to know the Bills had a free play. So he continued on and made a big play.
The league fined Sherman $9,115 for the hit and he says that the fine wouldn’t be appealed. What use is that, he says. It’s a “He said, you said” thing and he would never win an appeal based on that. So Sherman just smiled while talking to reporters and said he would move on.
