Seahawks safety Earl Thomas, in the immediate aftermath of a season-ending broken leg, has been musing about retirement. At least one of his defensive teammates doesn’t buy it.
“I expect him to come back,” cornerback Richard Sherman told reporters on Wednesday.
Without Thomas, the defense will be different. Sherman explained the impact of the safety’s absence.
“Just his energy,” Sherman said. “He’s a constant energy, it’s always infectious, he plays hard every snap. Just a guy that always where you need him.”
The defense itself, however, won’t change without Thomas.
"[W]e’re running the same stuff we’ve been running,” Sherman said.
The Thomas-free defense will get an immediate test on Sunday, against the Packers in Green Bay. Led by a quarterback who knows how to make the most of the rules.
“They’ll do the double count thing and since people don’t know the rules about double count, jumping off sides and things like that and free plays,” Sherman said. “Aaron Rodgers makes a living off of free plays. He’s one of the most adept at it probably in league history. Drawing people offsides and getting deep penalties on people, pass interference. I think they got the longest pass interference of the season this year, like 70 yards or something like that. That’s one of those rules that needs to change and needed to change long time ago. Until they do, people will keep taking advantage of it.”
The challenge for the Seahawks without Thomas will be to not let the Packers take advantage of those two rules. The bigger challenge will be to find a way to cool off a Green Bay team that has won two games in a row and that knows it needs to keep winning.
