Seahawks: Sherman dominates in San Francisco

In a league where the shutdown cornerback is a myth, Richard Sherman is one of the few who can claim to be close to it. Sherman has only been targeted once for every 8.2 snaps in Coverage, and has given up just one reception for every 18.2 snaps in Coverage; league leading marks which mean that on a per snap basis, Sherman is targeted less, and gives up less receptions than the other 72 qualifying corners. Quarterback's throwing into Sherman's coverage have an NFL QB Rating of just 48.6, the third lowest mark among starting corners, behind only Vontae Davis and Chris Harris.

Sherman was given a perfect opportunity to impress a national audience during the Thanksgiving showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Prior to the game, ESPN reported that 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had said, “I'll throw to whoever's open.”; he clearly wasn’t going to shy away from Sherman. Kaepernick was true to his word and threw into Sherman's coverage four times, which resulted in zero completions and two big interceptions. It gave Kaepernick a QB rating of 0.0 when throwing into Sherman's coverage, and earned Sherman a coverage grade of +3.0. After the game, ESPN reported that Sherman echoed Kaepernick's pregame words when he said, “I was the open man.”

The Seahawks and 49ers play again in Week 15, it will be interesting to see if Kaepernick takes the same approach.