Richard Sherman hit out at his critics after helping the San Francisco 49ers advance to the NFC championship game.
Sherman was influential from his cornerback position as the 49ers outclassed the Minnesota Vikings 27-10 in Saturday's divisional round clash.
A five-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks, Sherman intercepted Kirk Cousins in the third quarter, which led to a Tevin Coleman touchdown. The pick was part of the 49ers' suffocating defensive effort against the Vikings.
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"I get tired of hearing, 'Oh, man, he's a zone corner.' I get tired of hearing the excuses for why I'm great," Sherman told reporters postgame. "It was zone coverage. I covered the man (Vikings wideout Adam Thielen) and picked the ball off. In the playoffs, in big games, I show up.
"I show up year in, year out. Whether it's 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. Unless I tear my Achilles, I'm out there doing my job at a high level.
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"I get tired of excuses for why I'm good. 'Oh, my god, they're playing zone; oh, my god, it was this guy; oh, my god, the receiver slipped.' Why don't other people get those opps, then?
"It's odd. It's like people got frustrated that I was so confident early on in my career, so people wanted me to fail. When I didn't fail, it's like, 'How do we tear him down in other ways?' I'm too consistent on a yearly basis. Since I got in the league, every category that matters to a corner, I'm No. 1."
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The 49ers — buoyed by their first-round bye — will face either the Green Bay Packers or the Seahawks for a place in Super Bowl 54 after winning their first playoff game since 2013.
"I was pumped for the defense," 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. "We had a goal going into this game. We thought the team that got over 30 runs would win this game. We truly look at that as a team goal and we ended up getting 47 on offense.
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"It's a lot easier to do when the other team goes 2 of 12 on third down. I think we were 45 percent. I think they only ended up being able to get 10 [runs] and when you just see the way the defense is playing, it makes it so much easier to stay with that and I think our whole team kind of fed off it."