Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is hoping that he is not the receiver who gets pitted against Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman in Sunday’s NFC West clash.
Working on getting himself back to 1,000-plus yards in a season, Fitzgerald commented about who Sherman should cover.
“I haven’t had 1,000 yards in three years,” Fitzgerald quipped, via the Cardinals’ official website. “I hope he doesn’t follow me. Old, grizzly, washed-up veteran. Go follow Mike (Michael Floyd) or something, or Smoke (John Brown).”
As of late, Sherman has had much success in shutting down his opposing team’s top wide receivers. In Week 7 he made sure Torrey Smith didn’t tally any catches. Then in Week 9, he held a rusty Dez Bryant to just two catches for 12 yards.
This is why Fitzgerald doesn’t want Sherman in his grill on Sunday. Fitz is having a phenomenal come-back year so far with 55 receptions totaling 706 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. The math is easy here. If Fitzgerald continues this pace, he’ll finish the 2015 season with over 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns. He hasn’t posted this type of yardage since his 2011 season. And, his career-high for touchdowns is 13, scored in 2009.
While Fitzgerald hopes to avoid being shadowed by Sherman, he certainly respects him.
“Sherman is as good as they come,” Fitzgerald said, via The Arizona Republic. “Just in terms of his skill-level and ability. Then you couple that with his intelligence, he’s really, really special. You really don’t see any holes in his game.”
Fitzgerald pondered about who Sherman might cover Sunday.
“Who would he follow, though? We’re all pretty much the same.”
Fitzgerald may get his wish to avoid Sherman because he typically works out of the slot in the Cardinals’ offense and Sherman usually covers outside receivers. Although if somehow Sherman and Fitzgerald were lined up opposite each other, the corner will certainly be challenged.
We can agree that Sherman was successful in shutting out Smith and limiting Bryant. Although, we must consider the quarterback sources (Colin Kaepernick and Matt Cassel) in both of these cases. Meanwhile, Carson Palmer continues to get better with age and must now be considered as one of the best in the business.
It will be definitely be worth watching which NFC West team prevails when all is said and done in Week 10.