Despite Win, Seattle Seahawks Need To ‘Play Better,’ Says Richard Sherman

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the Seattle Seahawks dominated the Green Bay Packers 36-16 in the first game of the 2014 football season.

Despite the win, though, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is just one of the many people that think there is room to improve as the season continues. According to a report from USA Today, Sherman said he thinks the team’s performance was “off.”

“We weren’t up to par. We weren’t up to snuff, and I think everyone feels that way,” he added. “We’ve got to play better.”

With Sherman being a strong defensive player, Rodgers looked for all possible ways to avoid him. During the game, the Packers quarterback never threw in the direction of the Seahawks cornerback. By the end of the game, Sherman had no recorded statistics.

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll noted that if a quarterback is only passing the ball in one direction, it’s a benefit for those “playing in pass defense.”

“If it’s not going over there, it’s going over here,” Carroll added.

In a separate interview, the Seahawks coach told The Seattle Times that he intends to keep Sherman on the left side of the field. Despite Hines Ward criticizing the fact that Sherman spent the game covering Jarrett Boykin, whom he called “a nobody,” Carroll thinks the Seattle Seahawks’ setup is fine as it is right now.

“There’s no issue we have at this point and no reason to do anything differently than what we do,” he said. “But there may come a time.”

The Seattle Seahawks’ defense held the Packers offense to just 255 yards in total, and Rodgers passed for fewer than 200 yards. On offense, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw two touchdowns, while running back Marshawn Lynch ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns. And while Sherman and others may think that the team didn’t play well in their first game of the season, Carroll mentioned that he was “impressed” with how the Seahawks performed.

“We were really impressed with how hard the guys played across the board; all three phases were really aggressive,” he said. “And the effort was really there. And they were really excited to play on opening night.”

Carroll added that the Seahawks’ performance was a “terrific effort in general.”

“That really jumped out,” he said.

But Carroll did mention that there is some work to do on the Seattle Seahawks defense. During the game, cornerback Jeremy Lane suffered a groin injury. However, the Seahawks coach didn’t mention how long he would be out.

“He’s going to be down for a while,” Carroll noted.

The Seahawks’ backup cornerback, Tharold Simon, is undergoing some minor knee surgery and is expected to return in four weeks. For now, the cornerback position will go to Marcus Burley, who Seattle picked up from a trade with the Indianapolis Colts. Carroll mentioned that he was “pleased” with having Burley on the team.

“We really liked the kid coming in and did a fantastic job of being ready to play in that game down the stretch,” he said. “He’ll play for Jeremy at this time. We have no other alternatives that we would think of at this point, but we were really happy with what he did.”

The Seattle Seahawks will next face the San Diego Chargers in San Diego on Sunday, September 14.

[Featured image credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images via Yahoo Sports – Inline image credit: Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images via Yahoo Sports]