Richard Sherman could barely walk off the field after the effort he gave playing five quarters of football and 90-plus snaps in this past Sunday night's 6-6 tie against the Cardinals in Arizona. But on Wednesday afternoon at Renton's Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the Seahawks Pro Bowl cornerback was back in good spirits sporting an entertaining new look, one he hopes come Monday night will help him fly under the radar as he takes his young son, Rayden, trick-or-treating.
Sherman greeted reporters while wearing a Harry Potter robe, walking to the podium wielding what looked to be a replica of Albus Dumbledore's wand in his right hand, all while the Harry Potter theme song played on his phone.
"You've got to bring your own music, this is a serious occasion," Sherman said. "It's Halloween. My son told me he wanted me to wear something, so it's happening. It's happening."
Donning the Gryffindor house shield on his chest, Sherman met challenging questions from the media head on.
Q: What's tougher, playing five quarters of football, or Quidditch?
Sherman:"Five quarters of football is pretty tough, but Quidditch — the beaters, the chasers, trying to find the golden snitch, things like that — that's tough. Five quarters of football, though, in the elements, I'd say that'd take the cake."
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Q: Favorite book in the series?
Sherman:"Order of the Phoenix, I think that's the best one."
Q: How did that costume come about?
Sherman:"When you're a wizard like we are out here, sometimes you have to show it to the Muggles out in the world. We've got a lot of wizards — my son's a wizard, Earl Thomas does some magical things, Michael Bennett is Black Santa but he's also a wizard — so you know, you just have a good time. I just went to Harry Potter land, I felt like that was home."
Q: How long after Sunday's game did it take for you to feel human again?
Sherman:"Well, I'm definitely a wizard, so if you're asking if I feel like a Muggle again, I don't. But I started feeling better probably around late yesterday, last night, just getting more fluids in me and more energy, legs started getting back under me."
Fantasy land aside, that last answer provided further insight into just how Sherman felt toward the end of and following his team's Week 7 game at University of Phoenix Stadium. With Seattle's defense spending so much time on the field, Sherman said his legs started "locking up" on him in the third quarter. In overtime, when Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer connected with receiver J.J. Nelson for a 40-yard pass that nearly went for a touchdown if not for a game-saving tackle by safety Kelcie McCray, Sherman said his legs gave up on him just as he read Nelson's route and was about to jump Palmer's pass.
"That's exactly what that was," Sherman said. "I knew the play, I jumped the route, and my legs said, 'Yep, that's it. That's all we've got for you.' Unfortunate. Sometimes you tell your body to do something and it doesn't agree with what you say, so that was one of those times. Thankfully, Kelcie was able to save the day and I appreciate it."
After the game was over, Sherman said he looked clammy, suffered from shivers, and had a fever, symptoms that stayed with him on the flight home.
"They might've called it heat exhaustion," he said.
After a long night of sleep, some food, and plenty of fluids — Sherman said he took in two IVs — Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said Sherman responded well and should be ready to go for this week's game against the New Orleans Saints. He plans to be ready to take his son out on Halloween night, too.
"He's going to have a mask on, I'm going to have this on, nobody's going to have any idea," Sherman said with a smile as he reached by his side for a pair of round Harry Potter-esque wire glasses. "This is all you've got to do. Clark Kent did it. You've just got to put the glasses on. Bam, no longer Richard Sherman. Can't even tell anymore, right?"
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