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We have a question: Where is cornerback Richard Sherman? 

We’ve seen a man with long dreadlocks on the playing field. We’ve seen him in Domino’s and beef jerky commercials. But the man who shut down the NFL’s top receivers, picked off Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs and asked the great Tom Brady, “You mad, bro?”– well, he’s been missing. 

Is his face on milk cartons? Did he leave planet Earth thinking he got too good for this solar system? We don’t know. But what we do know is the First Team All-Pro has not been here this season. 

The man claiming to be Sherman gave up a touchdown to the St. Louis Rams in week one’s opening quarter, putting the Hawks behind the eight ball. He gave up crucial, back-breaking first downs to Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver AJ Green two weeks ago. And he was porous against the subpar receivers of the Carolina Panthers last week, leading to another loss for the ‘Hawks after a TD by their tight end.  

We thought when Kam Chancellor returned, the team’s defense would return to form but the unit has given up scores at an unthinkable level in the fourth quarters, choking away games that looked like wins against the Rams, Bengals and Carolina Panthers. 

In the past we’ve written that Sherman looks a step slow and some readers suggested we were wrong to say so. Maybe they were right; it has to be somebody else in that uniform, right? Right??

The Hawks need their shutdown cornerback this week on Thursday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers, the team against which Sherman made himself famous while defending Colin Kaepernick and former Niner receiver Michael Crabtree.  

It’s getting too late for the super-human defender we knew in seasons past to save the season. There are too many holes on a team we thought would be stout at most positions, especially on the left side of the field at cornerback. 

So, we repeat: Where is Richard Sherman? 

The team has to find out soon before the season is a total failure and we have to start worrying about these growing rumors of Pete Carroll going back to USC.