How Tampa Bay Bucs veteran Richard Sherman has lifted DB group – Tampa Bay Buccaneers Blog

TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Richard Sherman jumped on a flight — a Boeing 738 to be exact — and flew 2,520 miles from Seattle to Tampa on Sept. 28, practiced for two days, and, at the age of 33, having not played in the NFL in 288 days, lined up for all but one of 54 defensive snaps against the New England Patriots five days later.

Sherman learned he’d play Friday or Saturday, but it wasn’t until Saturday night, when starter Jamel Dean was still unable to push off his injured knee, that Sherman found out he would start in a complicated Todd Bowles’ defense. He also had barely scratched the surface of learning it at that point.

“In the middle of the game, I realized there wasn’t gonna be a rotation, once [Carlton Davis] went out,” Sherman said. “Once that happened, the plan kind of got thrown out the window.”

His help was supposed to be cornerback Pierre Desir, who was elevated from the practice squad one day earlier. But late in the second quarter, Desir was forced to step in for Davis, who at that point was their lone original starter. By the game’s final two drives, the Bucs had one of five original starting defensive backs — Jordan Whitehead — because safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (concussion) left the game.

“I started to get into ‘energy conservation mode’ throughout the game,” Sherman said. “You hate to say you saved some for the swim back, but it’s like, you don’t have a choice at that point. Because I don’t know exactly what I have for the rest of the game. … And even still, in the fourth quarter, my legs were like Jell-O, but you’ve just gotta soldier through and do what you can to help the team.”