- The Washington Times - Sunday, January 6, 2013

Trent Williams shoved Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman in the face in the aftermath of the Washington Redskins’ season-ending playoff loss Sunday and expressed regret minutes later.

Sherman appeared to make a “goodbye” gesture with his hand after the Seahawks beat the Redskins 24-14, and Williams took exception to it when the teams met at midfield.

“Just high emotions, man. You know I let ’em get the best of me. It’s nobody’s fault but mine,” Williams said. “I’ve got to calm down a little bit. When you lose a game like this with high intensity, I was a little on edge. I reacted in an immature manner.”

Williams, a team captain who has been praised for his growth as a person and player during this Pro Bowl season, didn’t want to explain what exactly Sherman had done to anger him.

Replays showed Williams shoving Sherman with his open right hand. He needed to be restrained by wide receiver Brandon Banks.

The 24-year-old left tackle took responsibility for his actions.

“I’m taught better than that. I’ve just got to be better, man,” Williams said. “It’s my first playoff run and I had a season end like that and then to kind of be taunted, it takes a bigger man to walk away the next time. I’ve just got to be a bigger man.”

Lichtensteiger limps off

Kory Lichtensteiger didn’t practice all week because of a sprained left ankle, but he started Sunday against the Seahawks after testing it before the game.

Very early on, though, the veteran left guard had to leave the game and give way to rookie Josh LeRibeus.

“I just felt like when I really tried to push into [Alan] Branch, something kind of gave way. I didn’t have the stability, I guess,” Lichtensteiger said. “I didn’t think stability was going to be a problem. But I didn’t have the strength in there that I thought I did.”

Lichtensteiger said last week he knew he would have to do more than jog to feel good about playing on the ankle. He did.

“I tried to simulate about everything that we do in our offense and it all felt good. I was pushing against big Doug Worthington and everything felt good,” Lichtensteiger said. “I guess you can’t really simulate game speed when somebody’s really coming into you. So I think that’s what it was. I just, I guess, overestimated how good it was feeling.”

Rocca bombs punts

Punter Sav Rocca’s right knee hasn’t been nearly as scrutinized as Robert Griffin III’s, but he has been playing with a torn meniscus for the past few months.

On Sunday, though, Rocca looked like a star.

When the offense sputtered in the second half and the defense faltered, he boomed a 50-yard punt and two 53-yarders. The Seahawks scored on just one of those drives, needing to go 79 yards to do so.

Extra points

Safety DeJon Gomes was active after missing the regular-season finale against the Dallas Cowboys with a left knee injury.

Linebacker London Fletcher said he would go through his normal process of deciding whether to come back next year. The 37-year-old has played in 240 consecutive regular-season games, tied for the active NFL record.

• Stephen Whyno can be reached at swhyno@washingtontimes.com.

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