They both made their way to the Seahawks locker room from Los Angeles, with a path-crossing detour or two in between and between them.
When the Seahawks host the Cincinnati Bengals at CenturyLink Field on Sunday, these two will provide the newest faces in a yet another new-look secondary – Sherman as a rookie starter at left cornerback for an injured
It will be a together-again reunion of sorts, as Lewis explained on Wednesday.
“I didn’t know Richard growing up, but I met him actually on his recruiting trip up to the UW,” he said with a large smile.
The smile turned to a grin and then a laugh as he added, “I do remember playing against him when he was a wide receiver – which, by the way, he was not a good wide receiver. Let it be known, he’s a far better DB than he ever was a wide receiver.”
The Seahawks aren’t just planning on that, they’re counting on it. Sherman is the proverbial next-man-up, after Trufant was placed on injured reserve 10 days ago with a disc problem in his back and Thurmond followed on Monday after fracturing an ankle in Sunday’s loss to the Browns in Cleveland.
“He’s very comfortable playing the football,” coach Pete Carroll said when asked how Sherman’s background as a receiver helps him in defending them. “He’s got a real knack for getting off his feet and getting up and playing the ball up high. That’s an attitude that you really like in a defensive back. He’s very comfortable there. He’s had a good upbringing and he’s given us a lot of confidence that he can do a good job.”
Sherman is no stranger to Carroll, who recruiting him out of high school while coaching at the University of Southern California. But Sherman opted for Stanford, and for a reason that even Carroll had to admire: We wanted to prove that a kid from Compton could go to Stanford.
“That was the case,” said Sherman, the first athlete and only second student from Dominquez High to do it. “I feel like I’ve done what I need to do there, and now I try to move on to the next thing and try to live this dream.”
And perhaps help other live their dream. “They can say to other students at my high school, ‘Anything is possible. Look what he did,’ ” Sherman said. “I feel like it gives a lot of kids a lot more hope of things you can achieve.”
How hard was it for a kid from Compton to say “no thanks” to USC? “It wasn’t too difficult,” Sherman said. “You want to go to the underdog. I’m more that guy. You don’t want to go to the power; you want to beat the power.”
But Carroll finally got his man, selecting the 6-foot-3 Sherman in the fifth round of April’s NFL Draft.
“This is the chance you’ve been waiting for since you were a kid,” Sherman said of starting his first NFL game.
Even if the circumstances are less than ideal because of the injuries to Trufant and Thurmond.
“You just have so much love and respect for the guys in front of you, and for that to happen it’s kind of a blow to you and you feel awful about that,” Sherman said. “But you want to play for them just to make sure they don’t feel bad about being out.”
Sherman had played on the left side in the nickel the past two games, because Thurmond would slide inside to cover the slot receiver – which was his role before replacing Trufant, as well.
“That definitely helped me when I had to go in on Sunday,” Sherman said. “It was just more plays at the same spot. You know the defense, you know the personnel, you know the tendencies. So that helped a lot.
“You can’t play like a rookie. You’ve got to play like a vet.”
Lewis, meanwhile, played the nickel back position last season, when he also was the special teams captain – before needing surgery to repair a knee he injured in December. That’s how he ended up on the physically unable to perform list to start this season. That’s why he’s now available at a time when the defense – and the entire team – really needs him.
The club already has cleared a roster spot to activate Lewis by releasing offensive lineman Tyler Polumbus.
“Roy’s a high-spirited kid,” Carroll said. “He’s got experience. He got a tremendous amount of confidence. He’s been a real active player.”
Lewis also is a player who can’t wait to be active again.
“From a guy that has experience on the inside, as far as setting defenses and getting guys aligned right in coverages, that will be good,” Lewis said of stepping in as nickel back so Sherman won’t have to slide inside to do it.
“That way he doesn’t have to have his mind too boggled playing outside and then switching inside. Because the inside world is a completely different world from the outside. It’s two different games, two different reads, two different sets of eyes. The whole thought process is different because you basically become a skilled linebacker inside.”
Another thing that Lewis would being is experience to a secondary that has second-year players at safety in
“Just having him back, we’re very young, and he gives us some background because he’s been around enough that he’ll affect the other guys in a positive way just through his experience,” Carroll said.
Then there’s a last tenuous – and for Lewis tortuous – connection between Sherman and Lewis: Last week’s Stanford-Washington game, which was won by the Cardinal 65-21.
“It was a nice payday,” Sherman said. “I was surprised by the score, but I wasn’t surprised by the way they ran the ball and things like that. But I didn’t think they would pin 65 on them.”
