Sherman should be glad this was the NFL and not college football or possibly the NFL next year. College football does not consider Taunting dead play foul and it negates the play itself. The NFL may make the same change next year, especially after that Golden Tate touchdown against St. Louis (Seattle again, classy organization there, Carroll, glad he brought some USC to the Emerald City).
By the way, shouldn't Sherman have been flagged for 2 taunting calls on the same play? First, for slapping & jawing with Crabtree and then a few seconds later running over to the 49's slideline, primarily Kaep, and flashing the 'choke' sign, which is specifically banned by the NFL? Seattle intercepts the ball in the End Zone and gets the ball at the 20. Throw a pair of 15 yard penalties on that and Seattle is back in the end zone. Safety. Seattle punts and the Niners get the ball back around midfield down by 4, about 30 seconds left, 2 time outs, and Sherman likely booted for back-to-back personal fouls. Possible SF could have won.
That would have shut Sherman up.
But, of course, the refs had no stones for any call like that, especially after botching Bowman’s fumble recovery and the ‘running’ into the punter call even though the rulebook clearly states that any contact with the punter’s plant leg is automatically a ‘roughing’ the punter penalty with a 15 yard penalty and an automatic first down.
My son, who is 7 did laugh at what Sherman did. I explained as his coach that if he every displayed such poor sportsmanship in a game (I coach his baseball and soccer teams) that his run/score would have been wiped-off and he would have been ejected/red carded. I then added as his father, he would be lucky to play again that season. Lesson learned, I hope.
