Richard Sherman wants you to know that Tom Brady isn’t the guy you think he is.
The vocal Seattle Seahawks cornerback said in a news conference Wednesday that it was the New England Patriots quarterback who started the trash-talk between them during their 2012 matchup. Their exchange went viral when Sherman walked up to Brady after the Seahawks’ 24-23 win and asked, “You mad, bro?”
“He was pretty much saying that we were nobodies,” Sherman said, per ESPN. “And we should come up to him after they got the win. He said stuff like that throughout the game. So we should just take that pretty well? Sure, can I get your autograph, too?”
Brady brushed off the incident Monday on WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan” radio show, claiming he couldn’t really hear Sherman and thought the cornerback was “just coming up to say ‘good game.'” But Sherman said he thinks this image of Brady doesn’t match who he really is.
“I think people somehow get a skewed view of Tom Brady,” Sherman said. “That he’s just a clean-cut guy that does everything right and never says a bad word to anyone. We know him to be otherwise.
“In that moment of him being himself, he said some things, and we returned the favor. Unfortunately, he apparently didn’t remember what he said. I’m sure also in those moments when he’s yelling at the ref, he’s just saying, ‘Good job. You’re doing a fantastic job. Keep it up.'”
If Sherman’s only argument against Brady’s “image” is that he talks trash during games and yells at refs, then it falls a bit flat. Maybe he knows something else that we don’t, but based on the complaints to the FCC that Brady drew this season, it’s safe to say that his on-field language wasn’t exactly a secret.
Regardless, all Sherman really cares about is Brady throwing the ball is his direction during Super Bowl XLIX.
“I hope (he does),” Sherman said. “It will give me more opportunities to get the ball. He had me in his sights before.”
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
