Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman saw a chance for the team to ring up 50 points for the third straight week late in Sunday night’s win over the 49ers and explained after the game that he asked coach Pete Carroll to go for it.
“I’m not gonna lie to you,” Sherman said, via Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports. “I told Pete, ‘Let’s score and go for two.’ He said, ‘We have more class than that.’”
The Seahawks settled for a 42-13 win that landed them in the playoffs and cemented their place as perhaps the league’s hottest team. It also scored Carroll a big victory in a rivalry with 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh that dates back to their days as college coaches. One of the most recounted tales of that rivalry includes Harbaugh going for two as Stanford’s coach late in a 55-27 win over Carroll’s USC squad.
Carroll wasn’t thrilled about that and members of the Seahawks said that Harbaugh didn’t do much to endear himself to the team after the 49ers beat the Seahawks earlier this season. Sherman and safety Earl Thomas said that Harbaugh honked his horn and “mockingly saluted” the Seahawks bus as he drove away from Candlestick Park. That left the Seahawks feeling extra good after knocking off the Niners.
“Happy Birthday [Harbaugh turned 49 on Sunday] -- that’s what you get. Yeah, he [honked at us]. It seems like he tries to be a professional in front of the camera, but he does his antics, like that, when the cameras aren’t around,” Thomas said. “He’s just a big kid. We don’t worry about that stuff. We just play the game. The best team won [Sunday], and it was convincing.”
Indeed it was. Carroll downplayed any animosity with Harbaugh after the game, but it’s shaping up to be fun times for years to come any time the Seahawks and 49ers renew hostilities. If things break right, we might not have to wait more than a month for another matchup.