I’m still surprised at all the shock and disgust over Richard Sherman’s postgame interview with Erin Andrews. I’m more surprised it doesn’t happen more often.

They take place almost immediately after games, when players have been jawing and trying to kill each other for 60 minutes. There are highly combustible moments, and it should be expected that more than a few of them will explode when somebody sticks a microphone in their face in these situations.

During a Fox Sports conference call yesterday, Michael Strahan defended Sherman. He understood the emotions that the Seattle DB was feeling at that time.

Strahan had some telling comments.

Said Strahan: “A lot of backlash unfairly came toward Richard [Sherman] because everybody wants to know what it’s like and wants to be on the inside, but when they get a glimpse of it, they get scared of it and they want to criticize the guy who did it. Richard is a good guy, he’s a smart guy, and he’s an inspirational player to a lot of kids who are going through some bad situations and growing up in not the best neighborhoods, but he made it out …

“Off the field, that’s not Richard, but on the field it is. When you see that side, you can’t complain, you can’t be scared, because when he’s on the field, he has to have the utmost belief in himself. We all did at that time when we were playing, because if you didn’t (don’t), you’re not (weren’t) going to survive out there. I don’t fault him at all. The comments about him are a lot worse than anything he ever did.”

Indeed, this wasn’t about sportsmanship. It was about being in the heat of the moment. Sherman clearly was still playing the game.

It made for great, brutally honest TV. Deal with it.

And now on to Super Bowl week.