Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has apologized a day after targeting the play of San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree with several harsh rebukes after Sunday night's NFC Championship win.

Sherman's deflection of a pass intended for Crabtree in the end zone during the closing minute, which bounced into the grasp of Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith, sealed the 23-17 win over the visiting 49ers to earn Seattle a matchup with the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.

"I apologize for attacking an individual and taking the attention away from the fantastic game by my teammates ... That was not my intent," Sherman said Monday in a text message to ESPN's Ed Werder.

Sherman also addressed his postgame comments in an interview Monday with ESPN Radio on the "SVP and Russillo" show.

"Obviously I could have worded things better and could obviously have had a better reaction and done things differently," he said during the interview. "But it is what it is now, and people's reactions are what they are."

His former college coach, Stanford's David Shaw, said Sherman's trash-talking image helped fuel the backlash.

"Personally, I love Richard, but I won't say that it's unfair. That (trash-talking image) is what he's chosen," Shaw said during an appearance on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike" on Tuesday morning. "That quick interview -- that quick, explosive show of emotion and energy after a football game -- that's why we try to get our players to give interviews about 15-20 minutes after a football game as opposed to 2 minutes after a football game.

"But that's what he showed people, and people are going to form that initial opinion of him, which is fine. That's part of who Richard is. That's part of how you get to be a great football player."