In-a-hurry DK Metcalf gets a ride to the bathroom then makes Lions feel more uncomfortable
DK Metcalf was sitting on the back of a motorized cart, flanked by attendants. He was being driven the long way from the sideline to the visiting locker room.
The sight of the Seahawks’ $72 million wide receiver getting carted off was briefly the news of a Sunday overflowing with it for Seattle in Detroit.
Turns out, Metcalf was having such a regal day he was getting the royal treatment — to get to the bathroom.
Metcalf’s got valet service from the sideline to the locker room during a Seahawks defensive series to, yes, use the facilities. His odd ride came during the second half of the team’s 48-45 victory over the Detroit Lions that was wild in more ways than one.
He noted the distance from the sideline to the opposite side of the field and far corner at Detroit’s Ford Field is perhaps the longest he’s had to, uh, endure yet in his four years in the NFL.
He said he didn’t ask for the ride. He said he was making his uncomfortable way to the bathroom when a stadium-staff driver for a cart on the sideline asked Metcalf if he wanted to lift.
Knowing time was, well, of the essence, he took the guy up on the offer.
Asked if he tipped his valet, Metcalf laughed. He was, after all, in a full football uniform and pads.
“I didn’t have my wallet!” he said, smiling.
On Twitter during the team’s trip home from Michigan back to Seattle, Metcalf wrote: “That clinch walk wouldn’t have made it” all the way to the locker room in time.
DK Metcalf beats Jeff Okudah
Bathroom humor aside, Metcalf really made the Lions uncomfortable Sunday.
Last week Metcalf said Jeff Okudah wasn’t a “lockdown” cornerback because he like most NFL cornerbacks today get safety help over the top. He doesn’t shadow receivers all over the field.
Sunday, Metcalf burned Okudah twice for long gains.
He made a double-move that left Detroit’s best cover man covering air in the first half. That pass from Geno Smith gained 54 yards. The next play, Smith threw to Noah Fant for a 1-yard touchdown and a 24-9 lead in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Metcalf had a 26-yard catch on Okudah.
Later in the quarter, on a third and 4, Metcalf reached back on a slant route to catch Smith’s pass off his back hip. That rescued what had been a second and 20.
That drive ended with Smith changing the play at the line, an audible with hand signals to a run against a “zero” blitz, with no safeties in the field’s middle. Rashaad Penny crashed through the only line of defense for a 36-yard touchdown run. That put Seattle ahead 38-23.
DK Metcalf creates by just being
The mere threat of Metcalf sent Smith to a touchdown run for the game’s first score. The quarterback saw the Lions in double coverage on Metcalf from the 8-yard line. He called a quarterback draw. Smith ran that in for the touchdown.
“When they double those guys, then there’s no one really covering me,” said Smith, who rushed for 49 yards to go with his 320 yards passing. “So, just opportunities out there to run the ball, and I was able to get that done.”
The Lions were one of the few teams to go to man-to-man coverage primarily against Metcalf. He burned it. He finished with seven receptions in 10 targets for 149 yards.
It was the third-most yards of his four-year career. He had 177 yards at the Eagles and 161 yards against the 49ers both in the 2020 season. That was the year Metcalf set the Seahawks’ season record with 1,303 yards and made the Pro Bowl.
So much for Metcalf having just 71 yards receiving through the first two games this season. That was before coach Pete Carroll and play caller Shane Waldron began having Smith push the ball down the field.
“He just played so well, because he had a lot of tough plays and tough catches and stuff,” Carroll said.
Great stuff, in fact.
“And the slant that he catches to convert a third down...yeah, that was a beautiful, beautiful catch, and Geno ripped it at him. And it was on his back hip, and it was a fantastic catch.
“That was probably the least of the ones that you would notice. But it was a great play.”
Besides his bathroom adventure, Metcalf saved most of his commentary Sunday about his quarterback. At 77.3%, Smith has the highest completion percentage for the first four games of a season in NFL history for a QB with at least 125 throws.
“He’s building. He’s been better, week by week. Our chemistry keep growing,” Metcalf said. “We are finally building an identity for ourselves.
“When teams give us man-to-man (coverage), we take advantage of it. When we need to run the ball, for those downs that we need Penny or Ken ‘Walk’ (Walker, the rookie number-two back) to step up, we have that running back for a 4-minute offense. Or when he need short-yardage downs, we hand the ball to them.
“So everybody is kind of settling into their own identity to where it’s getting easier for Shane to trust us in those big moment, trusting us to convert on third down and get those first downs.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2022 at 2:12 PM.
