Colin Kaepernick rips Richard Sherman: 'He's afraid of our receivers'

'If I throw it [the ball] a foot farther ... now you're the goat, Richard Sherman,' said Colin Kaepernick (right). (Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Despite throwing an interception in Sherman's direction to seal the NFC title for Seattle, Kaepernick told the New York Post's Bart Hubbuch, "I’ll take that matchup every day. I feel like he’s afraid of our receivers, and that’s something I look forward to [exploiting] next year."

Kaepernick's game-deciding mistake came as he tried to drop a pass over Sherman's head to Michael Crabtree in the end zone. Sherman made a sensational leaping play on the ball, tipping it to teammate Malcolm Smith for the INT.

"I don’t care who’s out there,” Kaepernick told Hubbuch. "I had Crabtree one-on-one with half of the field to himself, and I’m going to take that every single time. He [Sherman] made a good play on that ball, but if I throw it a foot farther, it’s a touchdown and now you’re the goat, Richard Sherman."

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Sherman then made a choking gesture in Kaepernick's direction -- the NFL later fined him for that incident -- and also unleashed on Crabtree during a postgame interview with FOX's Erin Andrews.

"Did that make you feel better about yourself? Then go ahead, because I’m not worried about you," Kaepernick told Hubbuch of Sherman's taunt. "I’m just worried winning games and helping us get to the Super Bowl. I can’t get insulted by something that ridiculous coming from somebody like that. From the time that play ended to the time his news conference ended, let’s just say it wasn’t very politically correct."

Crabtree shot back at Sherman in the moments after the NFC title game ended, by posting this tweet:

"I shouldn’t have attacked Michael Crabtree the way I did," Sherman wrote hours later in a column on The MMQB. "You don’t have to put anybody else down to make yourself bigger.

At this week's Media Day, Sherman said that he had been emotional at the time of his interview with Andrews and cautioned against labeling players based on one moment. When asked what defines him off the field, Sherman offered the following:

"Philanthropy. Helping the world and helping kids. Trying to do everything I can to make sure that they have a better chance and see better things than we have when we grew up."

The 49ers and Seahawks will meet twice again next season as division rivals, though the dates for those games are not yet set.

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