Richard Sherman’s contentious day continued on Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks cornerback hit Marcus Mariota late out of bounds.
Emotions were already running high for the cornerback after he racked up three penalties on a single play in the first quarter. When he had a chance to hit Mariota, Sherman didn’t slow down at all, even though it was obvious the Tennessee Titans quarterback would be out of bounds by the time he got there.
Unsurprisingly, Titans player weren’t happy to see their quarterback take an unnecessary shot. There was a fight on the sideline with offensive lineman Taylor Lewan barking in Sherman’s face.
Lewan is a noted hot-head himself who was ejected from two games during the 2016 season.
Sherman was lucky not to have been tossed Sunday with the penalty assessed against him. It was his second personal foul of the game after drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct during his penalty trio a quarter earlier.
The NFL automatically ejects any player who gets two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a game, but Sherman’s hit was ruled unnecessary roughness so he was in the clear. Even better for the Seahawks was the fact that the fight on the sideline drew flags on both teams and all penalties offset on the play.
A few plays later, Sherman broke up a pass from Mariota that forced the Titans to settle for a field goal to go up 6-0.