In advance of Sunday's NFC Championship game, Aaron Rodgers said of Richard Sherman on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show, "You have to be aware of him. Not scared of him, but you have a ton of respect for him."
If you only judged Rodgers' true feelings by the first Packers-Seahawks game this season, that statement is probably not wholly accurate. Green Bay systematically avoided throwing at Sherman in their Week 1 loss to the Seahawks. They simply did not challenge him at all, failing to target him with a single pass. Green Bay practically sacrificed No. 3 receiver Jarrett Boykin to Sherman, lining him up wide on Sherman's side of the field for most of the night while moving Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb elsewhere.
That might sound like a prudent strategy given Sherman's coverage prowess, but it didn't exactly work. Green Bay lost the game, 36-16, and the offense was bottled up for much of the night. Still, going directly at Sherman isn't all that wise, either.
"Look at the numbers, they don't lie. Not a lot of guys catch passes on his side, and for the amount of times he's targeted, his interception totals are very impressive. You just have to play your game, but if he's locking his guy down, he's probably not going to get a lot of passes thrown his way."
Rodgers knows this, but he also know you do have to at least make a token attempt at challenging Sherman, lest your offense become too predictable. Now that Davante Adams has emerged as Green Bay's new No. 3 wideout, maybe the Packers will mix things up and use either Nelson or Cobb on Sherman's side some in the NFC Championship.
