SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Three days after Seattle Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark declared that Richard Sherman and his era is over in Seattle, the San Francisco 49ers cornerback made it clear he wasn't bothered by Clark's comments, and actually went so far as to agree with the premise.
Asked during his weekly Thursday media session to address the "elephant in the room," Sherman quickly pointed out that he didn't view Clark's comments as a big deal.
"It's like a mouse in a room," Sherman said. "It's like, 'Kids say the darnedest things.' It didn't bother me at all. It just seemed like a guy who is probably tired of hearing the same questions. Like, I wasn't even part of that game and they're still asking him questions after the game about me. I'd probably be pretty annoyed, too, if we won a game and somebody comes and asks me about a guy who either wasn't involved in this game or on my team. It's kind of weird but it doesn't bother me.
"The era was over in my mind. Obviously. I'm here."
When a reporter pointed out to Sherman that Clark's response was directed toward Sherman's previous comments that the Seahawks are a "middle of the road" team, Sherman said he didn't hear the question but that he views any season not ending with a victory in the Super Bowl as a disappointment.
"At the end of the day, in this league, if you don't end up with the trophy, then how great was your season anyway?" Sherman said. "We're fighting. We're struggling. Dealing with injuries. But you know, at the end of the day there's only one team that ends up with the trophy. Unfortunately, it won't be us this year. We'll see if it's them."
The Seahawks and 49ers are slated to meet Sunday at Levi's Stadium. It will be the second meeting between the teams in the past three weeks. While the 3-10 Niners have long been out of playoff contention, the 8-5 Seahawks can clinch a postseason berth with a victory.
"But you know, at the end of the day there's only one team that ends up with the trophy. Unfortunately. it won't be us this year. We'll see if it's them."Richard Sherman
Clark made his comments moments after Seattle beat the Minnesota Vikings 21-7 on Monday Night Football, with an eye toward Sunday's meeting.
"We're 1-0 against Richard Sherman right now," Clark told reporters. "We are 1-0 against the San Francisco 49ers this year. Our plan is to be 2-0. So we are going into that stadium next week with our pure aggression. We are going to stop that run, and we are going to have fun on third downs."
Before the first meeting in Seattle, a game the Seahawks won 43-16, Sherman made headlines with comments on his departure from the Seahawks, quarterback Russell Wilson and the current state of the franchise.
Sherman also said repeatedly in the week leading up to and after that game that he viewed it as just another game and that there was no additional meaning. He later softened that stance a bit with a personal blog he wrote for his website.
This time, Sherman doesn't expect there to be as much emotion.
"Just the nostalgia of seeing your friends and seeing the personnel and all the guys that you've played with [is gone]," Sherman said. "And in a couple weeks I'll see them again. We'll be out of season, we'll be doing vacations and stuff. But it was cool being back in the stadium and everything of that sort. This time we'll be back home, we'll be grinding it out. We know how it went last time and we've got a sour taste in our mouth so we'll look forward to the challenge."