Packers give Richard Sherman the no-target treatment

As the saying goes, the sincerest form of flattery is imitation. But for the NFL’s best cornerbacks, it’s more like avoidance.

Richard Sherman has at times seen opposing quarterbacks throw his way as little as possible, but on Thursday night, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers steered clear of Seattle’s All-Pro cornerback entirely.

“It was obvious. That’s happened a number of weeks in the preseason, too,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Brock and Salk” Friday. “That’s about (reputation) and all that, and Richard deserves that kind of focus, I think. I don’t think it will stay like that all the time, but it certainly was like that in this game. We had seen that earlier in preseason so we kind of anticipated that it might happen so we had some calls to help out.”

According to ESPN Stats & Information, seven of Rodgers’ 33 attempts were thrown to the offense’s right side of the field, where Sherman almost exclusively lines up. None of them, though, were directed at a receiver Sherman was covering.

Not that any of this is surprising considering Sherman leads the league in interceptions since 2011 with 20 even with the reluctance to throw his way. But while that kind of treatment is the ultimate sign of respect for a cornerback, all that inaction would seemingly make it easy to lose focus.

How does Sherman avoid that?

“You just try to be disciplined,” he said. “You don’t want to be the reason your team loses, you don’t want to lose focus and be selfish like that and become bored. This is the NFL. There’s no boredom. You’re playing against Aaron Rodgers so you can’t get too bored. I just wanted to do my part and stay locked in.”