Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, one of the NFL's biggest personalities and loudest voices, had quite a bit to say about Washington Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon after the two faced off numerous times in Monday night's NFC clash.
It's not abnormal for trash talk to occur in the NFL - whether it is before, during or after a game. And it seemed pretty clear on TV that Garcon and Sherman were jawing back and forth quite a bit as the game wore on.
But rarely does a player single out another player for comment in a post-game interview.
Sherman - after aiding in the effort that held Garcon to two catches for 23 yards on the night and delivered Seattle a 27-17 victory over Washington - did just that.
"Pierre doesn't matter in this league," Sherman said. Asked to clarify his comments, Sherman replied, "I mean exactly what I said."
It appeared at one point that Garcon - who may have been frustrated due to Sherman's blanket coverage and his resulting limited production - pulled on Sherman's hair. Sherman, who has long dreadlocks that protrude from the back of his helmet, was not pleased.
"Yeah," Sherman said when asked if Garcon pulled his hair. "Pierre did a few things. When you can't get open, you got to do whatever you can. The crowd is acting like I'm holding him. Obviously the TV copy you can see what happened."
Hair-pulling is a somewhat sensitive topic in the NFL. Technically speaking, hair is considered fair game in terms of tackling a player. In 2003, the league enacted the Ricky Williams rule, which states that long hair is considered part of the uniform.
The NFL makes a concerted effort to keep uniforms as streamlined and consistent across the league as possible, so that a player can be brought down via any portion of their body legally, with facemasks and horse-collars being the exception.
Many NFL players, though, seem to consider it something of an unwritten rule to not pull another player's hair. But in the heat of the moment, with the game on the line, some will resort to any means necessary to get the job done.
What makes this instance particularly egregious is that Garcon wasn't attempting to tackle Sherman - he was trying to shake loose from his coverage.
