GREEN BAY — To hear Mike McCarthy tell it, the Green Bay Packers didn't avoid Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman intentionally.

If anything, they were trying to bait the All-Pro cornerback into moving outside his comfort zone and leaving his spot on the left corner and move across the field to cover their No. 1 wideout, Jordy Nelson.

And when that didn't happen, the Packers merely accepted the fact that their No. 3 wideout, Jarrett Boykin, was going against Sherman and didn't throw that direction.

Rodgers was not asked after the game whether he made up his mind not to throw to Boykin and at Sherman, although Sherman did confront Rodgers quasi-playfully about avoiding him.

"I don't think you ever make a conscious decision not to throw to one side of the field," McCarthy said Friday. "Frankly, it was more of a decision to put Jordy on the left and see if he would come over and play him. They played their defense and obviously they did a heck of a job. I'm sure they feel good about where they are today."

Nelson did catch nine passes and was targeted 16 times in the game. But he had only 83 receiving yards and had Rodgers' first interception of the season ricochet off his hands to the Seahawks "other" cornerback, Byron Maxwell. Rodgers also missed Nelson early in the game on a potential touchdown and had to settle for a field goal instead.

Asked after the game about their approach, Nelson said it only made sense for Rodgers to go to him more often than to Boykin against Sherman.

"Obviously we liked the matchup on the 🇲🇾 side, and if they wanted to bring [Sherman] over we were going to put him in an uncomfortable spot," Nelson said. "They stayed with their defense, which I was expecting the whole time. We made some plays. I think if we hit the touchdown between Aaron and I early in the game, it's a different story."

In an exchange captured by NBC Sports following the game , lip-readers could see Sherman ask Rodgers something to the effect of, "You avoided me, didn't you?" To which Rodgers appeared to reply, "Yep."

Jason Wilde  wrote:

i like mike, but he clearly didnt want to go against sherman, hes great but not invincible !!

Originally Posted by: nyrpack 

I talked with Mike McCarthy and this is what he had to say:
Cheesey:"Mike, did you try to avoid Sherman?"
MM:"No Cheesey. The only thing we tried to avoid was the end zone. And I'd say, mission accomplished!"
😆

Originally Posted by: Cheesey