Richard Sherman Ranks Manning as Smartest QB, Says He Throws Ducks

Dec 29, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman catches the ball prior to the game against the St. Louis Rams at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

In a column on The Monday Morning Quarterback, Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman ranked the top five smartest quarterbacks in the league. Sorry Patriots fans, Tom Brady isn’t one of them.

Sherman ranked Broncos QB Peyton Manning as the smartest quarterback in the NFL, which is obvious at this point, but he took a little dig at Manning at the end of his analysis. Here’s his full report:

“When we played Peyton in the preseason, I found a new appreciation for the way he makes adjustments at the line of scrimmage; he controls the protections, and if he sees the blitz coming he slides it. The thing that sets him apart is that he’ll change it to a run play if you don’t have enough players in the box, and they’ll get five or six yards because you’re not ready for it. Nobody else has both the authority to do that within their offense and the understanding to know when it’s appropriate.”

“His arm, however, is another story. His passes will be accurate and on time, but he throws ducks.”

It’s hard to deny that Manning throws wobbly passes, and maybe I’m being picky, but the context in which Sherman is calling these passes ‘ducks’ and the verbiage used is in poor taste, at least for me.

Maybe it’s just because I can’t imagine anyone taking a dig at Peyton Manning after he’s just completed the single greatest regular season of any individual player to ever play in the NFL. Perhaps I’m just an overly-sensitive Broncos fan.

Either way, I’m not a fan of Sherman’s little dig, and I hope he has to pay for it in the form of a playoff loss.