Richard Sherman has Patriots Super Bowl flashbacks after Russell Wilson's goal-line performance

BOSTON -- When Richard Sherman inked his contract to join the Thursday Night Football broadcasting crew, he couldn't have known that he was signing up to relive his own personal football trauma. Yet just a month into the job, with former teammate Russell Wilson playing in the nationally televised spectacle, Sherman was forced to go through some things in front of a national audience.

The triggering moment came at the end of the Colts' overtime win over the Broncos in Denver. With the Colts kicking a successful field goal to begin overtime, the Broncos needed a field goal to tie and extend the game or a touchdown to win it. New head coach Nathaniel Hackett -- not exactly known for his wise late-game decision-making in prime-time games thus far in his tenure -- opted to go for the win on a fourth-and-1 from the 5-yard line.

And wouldn't you know it -- the Broncos ran the same route concept to Wilson's right side that the Seahawks ran at the end of Super Bowl XLIX against the Patriots. Except this time, Malcolm Butler was nowhere to be found, and the unintentional/intentional pick actually opened up the slant. A walk-in touchdown was there for K.J. Hamler.

Problem was ... Wilson never even looked that way.

Instead, Wilson insisted on forcing a pass to Courtland Sutton, who was covered by Stephon Gilmore. (Coincidentally, Gilmore replaced Butler as New England's No. 1 cornerback in New England.)

The pass fell incomplete.

The Broncos lost.

Hamler was distraught.

And though he wasn't playing in the game, Sherman was beside himself.

When the play happened, Sherman sent out a one-word tweet: "Flashbacks."  

Then he had a little fun, using the famous meme of his reaction to Butler's interception in Super Bowl XLIX.

"On the final play ... you gotta run the ball," Sherman said on the postgame show. "Again, like, I mean, I wish I had Marshawn [Lynch] over here. Like, one yard. You need one yard. Run the ball. What -- run the ball! All he has to do, is run the football. Necessary criticism. I'm not -- you know, I've said enough criticism for him. But god dang it, run the dang ball!"

Sherman added: "Like, learn from your mistakes!"

Fellow postgame analysts Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth needled Sherman a bit, asking him if he had ever seen Wilson in a comparable situation before.

"RUN THE BALL!" an unamused Sherman screamed.

When Fitzpatrick ribbed Sherman a little more, the former All-Pro cornerback could not take it anymore.

"It's too soon, guys," Sherman pleaded. "Too soon!"

(If Sherman was really going through it, he could have snapped back to ask Fitzpatrick to name the favorite playoff memory of his 17-year career. Alas, Sherman was wallowing.)

Last month, Sherman said on his podcast that Wilson received special treatment from Pete Carroll in Seattle, showing that some residual bitterness may still be lingering toward Wilson among members of the famed Legion of Boom defense. Thursday night's performance -- which also featured an end-zone interception thrown by Wilson to Gilmore -- managed to open up some wounds that will never quite fully heal.