Gregg Bell

The News Tribune

First, Richard Sherman said after his now-former team waived him this sping the Seahawks had lost their way.

Then last month, Seattle’s former All-Pro cornerback said the Seahawks were a “middle-of-the-road team.”

Monday night, after the Seahawks beat Minnesota for their fourth consecutive victory to move to within a win at Sherman’s 49ers on Sunday from a playoff berth, Frank Clark had some of his own words for Sherman’s words.

Asked about the chance to clinch a playoff berth against Sherman’s Niners (3-10) in Santa Clara, Calif., this weekend, Seattle’s starring defensive end said: “Ah, man, it means a lot.”

“At the end of the day, ‘middle of the road,’ that’s just Richard Sherman being Richard Sherman,” Clark said after the 21-7 domination on defense of the Minnesota Vikings, an NFC finalist last season that is still holding the final playoff spot in the conference even after the Seahawks beat them.

“He’s not in this locker room no more, so his opinion really doesn’t matter. They’ve got some problems over there in San Fran that he needs to be worried about.

“So at the end of the day, this is my team now. This is my defense. Richard Sherman, his era is over here. If he’s got anything to say about our defense, he can say it on the field, at the end of the day.

“We 1-0 against Richard Sherman right now. We are 1-0 against the San Francisco 49ers this year. And our plan is to be 2-0. So we are going into that stadium next week with our pure aggression. We are going to stop that run, and we are going to have fun on third downs.”