Richard Sherman has ‘flashbacks’, blasts Broncos’ familiar decision
Richard Sherman had deja vu.
And not the good kind.
The former NFL star now serves as an analyst for Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” broadcast and did not take kindly to how the end of the Colts’ overtime win over the Broncos, and his ex-teammate Russell Wilson, unfolded.
“Flashbacks,” Sherman posted on Twitter immediately after the game.
Trailing 12-9 in overtime, Wilson — who played and won a Super Bowl with Sherman while with the Seahawks — had marched the Broncos all the way down to the Colts’ five-yard line. Facing a fourth-and-one, head coach Nathaniel Hackett and the Broncos opted to pass the ball, and Wilson’s pass promptly fell incomplete to hand Denver its third loss of the season. The play, and circumstance, drew shades of another late-game, fourth-and-one miscue.
Wilson infamously threw an interception to Patriots cornerback Malcom Butler to seal New England’s 2015 Super Bowl victory over the Seahawks. Similarly, Wilson was facing a game-deciding fourth-and-one deep in the opponents’ territory. In the aftermath of the decision, the Seahawks and Wilson were heavily scrutinized and ridiculed for choosing to pass instead of handing the ball off the superstar running back Marshawn Lynch.
With Sherman helplessly watching along the sidelines in 2015, he notoriously demonstrated his displeasure on his face, an expression of hope turned to disgust that has since become a popular meme.
Along with his “flashbacks” tweet, Sherman posted a gif of that reaction.
And although the Broncos don’t have a running back of the same caliber as Marshawn Lynch, Sherman shared a similar sentiment as he did seven years ago.
“On the final play, you’ve got to run the ball again,” Sherman said on Amazon’s postgame broadcast, on which he’s accompanied by former players Andrew Whitworth, Tony Gonzalez and Ryan Fitzpatrick and host Charissa Thompson. “I wish I had Marshawn up here. One yard, you need one yard. Run the ball. Run the ball! All he has to do is run the football. Necessary criticism. You know I’ve said enough criticism of [Nathaniel Hackett], but run the dang ball. Like, learn from your mistakes.”
“I’m so confused, have you been in this situation before?” Whitworth playfully asked, seemingly referencing the Super Bowl incident.
Hackett has suffered through a rough opening five games in charge of the Broncos, most notably the team’s opening-week loss to the Seahawks and his decision to attempt a 64-yard field goal rather than try to convert a fourth-and-five. A week later, fans were sarcastically chanting out the play clock amid the team’s play clock woes.
Despite the criticism of Hackett’s decison to pass, the play should have worked. Broncos receiver KJ Hamler was wide open to Wilson’s right, but Wilson never saw him and instead threw a pass intended for Courtland Sutton.
“I could have walked in,” Hamler told reporters after the game.