Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson launched his Wednesday press conference with a joke.
“Don’t make me take y’all’s credentials today,” he said with a smile.
It was a tonge-in-cheek reference to Tuesday’s comments from cornerback Richard Sherman, who capped a combative press conference regarding his complaints about offensive play calling with a threat to “ruin” a reporter’s career by getting his credentials revoked. Later in the press conference, Wilson offered a less frivolous reference to Sherman’s remarks about the offense.
“Who knows about if it could go too far?” Wilson said regarding whether Sherman has taken it too far or eventually will. “We’re not worried about that, we’re moving on, everyone is focused and committed to winning and committed to one another. We’re all competitive, we all want to be great, we all want to win. We’ve all had a lot of great wins, we’ve had some tough losses, but at the end of the day it’s about choosing to be committed to one another. That’s what we are. We have all the love in the world for one another and that’s really our only focus. I think that’s where our focus is right now.”
Still, it doesn’t sound as if Wilson will be factoring Sherman’s views on not throwing from the doorstep of the end zone in the future.
“I hope we get to the one yard line again, and I’d throw it again too if it was the right call, right timing,” Wilson said, specifically in reference to being at the one yard line at the end of the Super Bowl. “I have all the confidence in the world in that, I have all the confidence in the world in the players that we have. I have all the confidence in [running back] Thomas Rawls, all the confidence in all the other running backs we have. I have all the confidence in our receivers and tight ends and offensive line to make the play. You prepare to win, you prepare to do everything we can to be at the highest level and it goes both ways, it’s a reciprocal thing. We have all the confidence in the world in our defense, all the confidence in the world in special teams and our field goal kicker and what he can do. There’s no reservations in my mind, no hesitation at all and we’re committed to doing whatever it takes to win and finding ways.”
Wilson nevertheless insists that Sherman’s apparent lack of confidence in the offense will not become a distraction.
“It’s not an issue for us,” Wilson said. “We’re focused on practice, we’re not really talking about it. You guys ask questions so I think it’s important to answer and make sure that you guys understand, but for us we’re committed to winning, committed to one another. I know everybody on the defense is committed to us, we’re committed to the defense, and vice versa. We’re committed to the Seattle Seahawks and being all in on that. That’s the passion and love we have for one another. As a journey, great things are going to happen, we believe that, it’s because of how we prepare. That’s our sole purpose.”
That may not be Sherman’s sole purpose. Wilson, coach Pete Carroll, and anyone else can try to talk their way around it, but the truth is that Sherman: (1) has no regrets about what happened last week; (2) believes he has the right to do it again whenever he wants; and (3) probably at some point will. The only question is whether that will happen with the season on the line -- and whether it will potentially derail the season.
