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One of the many storylines that crops up during 49ers-Seahawks week is the rivalry between Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin and 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh. Sherman and Baldwin both played for Harbaugh at Stanford, and both have seemed to have less than stellar feelings about Harbaugh, with Sherman in particular reportedly disliking Harbaugh. Earlier this summer, Sherman's dad even went so far as to call a "passionate hate." As I understand it, I believe Sherman thinks Harbaugh had some negative things to say about him leading up to the 2011 NFL draft, and that caused his draft stock to sink.
After the game, Jim Harbaugh mentioned to the media that he congratulated Sherman and Baldwin. A short while later, this GIF came out of Sherman giving Harbaugh a pat on the butt as they were leaving the field.
(via @BuzzFeedSports)
I don't think this is as much of a story as some might make it out to be, but since you might hear something about it at some point this morning, I figured I would share it with you first.
Per Kyle Bonagura, Harbaugh said the butt pat was "in good faith". If you watch it, Sherman obviously has a little smile, but Harbaugh seems to just give him a sort of wave. It seems pretty harmless to me, but I guarantee you someone will write something in a negative light about this. Personally, I'd like to hope Harbaugh and Sherman have buried the hatchet in some regard.
Speaking of Sherman, he had himself a monster of a night with an interception and lockdown coverage on Anquan Boldin. I think many of us will agree he is able to get away with some seriously physical cornerback play. While it seems like more should be whistled, you have to give credit to Sherman for pushing the limits of the rules in his coverage. The 49ers corners can get pretty physical at times as well, so it is hard to get too annoyed with the Seahawks cornerbacks getting away with their fair share of holding.
And for those that don't like Sherman's personality, well, I think that's a little bit of to each his own. Sherman has an incredibly over the top personality on the field, but generally speaking he seems like a good dude off the field. I think he plays with a mentality of me against the world, and this helps fuel him. I do think at times it comes off as un-classy, but he would not be the first player to be kind of a [site decorum] on the field.