Richard Sherman isn’t exactly liberal with his compliments. But the Seattle Seahawks cornerback dropped some seriously high praise on Deshaun Watson Sunday.
Sherman’s Seahawks earned a narrow, 41-38 victory over Watson’s Houston Texans at CenturyLink Field despite the rookie quarterback throwing for 402 yards and four touchdowns. After the game, Sherman personally sought out Watson and delivered him this message, as relayed to the MMQB’s Peter King:
“You played the best game any quarterback has ever played against us, and we’ve played all the legends. I respect how you hung in there and kept battling and battling.”
That’s quite the statement from Sherman, who indeed has played against a who’s who of legendary quarterbacks: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers, to name a few.
In fact, Sherman was on the field for one of the greatest quarterback performances in Super Bowl history: Brady completed a then-Super Bowl record 37 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns in the New England Patriots’ thrilling win over Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX.
We’re not here to debate whether Watson’s big day was better than Brady’s Super Bowl effort; Sherman was just speaking in the moment and trying to convey his respect for the Texans QB after his impressive game. But Sherman does believe Watson can join TB12’s elite company pretty soon.
“My God, Houston’s so lucky,” Sherman told King. “By next year he’s going to be a top-five quarterback in this league, and that includes the two big dogs (Brady and Rodgers). He makes you dig to the deepest part of your competitive juices to beat him.”
Thumbnail photo via Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
