SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers' overtime win over the Seahawks on Sunday meant just a little more to Richard Sherman after the way his departure unfolded in Seattle.
Outwardly, however, the veteran cornerback was like a proud parent after he watched all of San Francisco's younger players who “stepped up to the moment” at Levi's Stadium.
“Honestly, it means a lot beating Seattle for me,” Sherman said after the 26-23 win. “But it’s just the way the guys showed up and kept battling throughout the game. This was a tough game.”
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SIGN UP HERE While Sherman was complimentary of the younger 49ers, he appeared to bring a little extra to the game, although he said he does that every week. It especially was noticeable, though, when he laid out Chris Carson on a fourth-quarter hit, and the Seahawks running back was seen very little on the field after that.
“He stayed up and was fighting for extra yards, and I wasn’t going to have it," Sherman said. "I wasn’t going to have it. I locked in full speed, and I’m laying heavy every chance I get.”
Sherman was impressed by the three rookies in the 49ers' secondary also bringing a little extra. Early in the first quarter, cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon left the game with a knee injury, and rookie Tarvarius Moore stepped in as the next man up. Rookies D.J. Reed and Marcell Harris rounded out San Francisco's secondary in place of K’Waun Williams and Jaquiski Tartt, both of whom missed the game with injuries.
Moore ended the day with five solo tackles, two assists and two pass break-ups, impressing Sherman.
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“I hope he gets a lot of credit for what he did today,” Sherman said of the third-round draft pick from Southern Miss. “He went out there today and stepped up to the moment in a big way. I think he gave up one catch and forced an incompletion on third down. Tackled well, shot his gun.
“A lot of times you get out there and you play hesitant. You’re scared to mess up, scared to make a mistake. He didn’t play like that. He went out there and played exactly how he practiced. We’re proud of him. I’m incredibly proud of him.”
Added Sherman: "You have to understand that we're doing this with guys who have played probably less than 100 snaps in their career. Especially in the back end, and they are playing their balls … they are playing their butts off."
While Sherman defected attention away from himself in his “revenge game” against the Seahawks, with whom he spent seven seasons, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged the additional meaning this win had for his veteran cornerback.
“Yeah, I just saw him in the locker room,” Shanahan said. “Anytime you get to play against your former team, especially a team that he had a career like he did for them, I know he was happy. Talked to him in there, just gave him a hug, didn’t say much, but it’s a big deal for guys, and I was really happy for Sherman to get that.”
[RELATED: Shanahan relieved 49ers' skid vs. Seahawks is history]
Sherman was asked if he believed the Seahawks overlooked the 49ers, given Seattle's 43-16 win over San Francisco two weeks ago. He wasn't buying it.
"I highly doubt it," he said. "Just like I'm pretty inflammatory on the other side, I'm pretty inflammatory on both sides. My truth isn't always everybody's truth. ... I highly doubt Pete [Carroll, the Seahawks' coach] is overlooking a game I'm playing, and Russell [Wilson, the Seahawks' QB] as well."
What wasn't hard to overlook was just how different the 49ers looked. And the role Sherman and his young teammates played in it.