Pete Carroll: DK Metcalf’s end game vs Eagles, and his deference since, show maturity
His coach thinks DK Metcalf took over the end of the game the Seahawks had to win.
He had three catches for 58 yards when his team absolutely needed them. That included pinning the ball on his hip after he ripped a pass away from the arms of Philadelphia’s James Bradberry. A second catch on third and 10 for 34 yards between Bradberry and safety Sydney Brown NFL was the second-least probable catch of the league’s week 15, according to NFL NextGen Stats.
It set up fill-in quarterback Drew Lock’s game-winning touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a beautiful pass over Bradberry and catch on the rookie receiver’s fingertips in the end zone with 28 seconds left.
In Pete Carroll’s mind, Metcalf is how the Seahawks (7-7) beat the 10-win Eagles 20-17 Monday night to end a four-game losing streak and stay in playoff contention.
“What an incredible finish that he had that game,” Carroll said Wednesday. “He just rocked the house. Every play, the route that he ran to get open, the low ball that he catches, the other phenomenal grab that he makes in traffic and hangs on to a football that nobody would think you could catch. ...
“I just think he took the game over.”
So DK, what was the favorite one of your three huge catches on that final drive to beat the Eagles?
“Jaxon’s,” Metcalf said.
“I didn’t score. Jaxon’s catch was the best one on that drive.”
The mature side of DK Metcalf?
Is his ode to his rookie teammate an example of Metcalf’s maturity? You know, the virtue Carroll and the Seahawks have said their star receiver has but at times this season — and last season, and the seasons before that — hasn’t shown?
Carroll and Metcalf’s teammates believe Metcalf deferring to Smith-Njigba, plus Metcalf staying in the Eagles game mentally to the end despite just two catches on three targets in the first 58 minutes, shows the other side of the competitive, often-fiery just-turned-26-year-old man-child.
To them it shows the positive, winning side of the team-first mentor for Seattle’s many younger players — yet one who’s led all NFL wide receivers in penalties the last few seasons.
Metcalf’s late heroics against the Eagles came eight days after he got ejected from Seattle’s loss at the 49ers, for throwing down and then shoving San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner following his late interception.
The guy whom some Seahawks fans were blasting for being selfish and undisciplined during the team’s four-game losing streak that ended Monday is the same guy his coach says just won the team’s most important game this season.
At least until Seattle’s next one, Sunday at Tennessee (10 a.m., channel 7). The Seahawks expect Geno Smith to be back from his groin injury to start instead of Lock against the Titans.
“If you noticed, he was really focused. He expedited the timing of the sequence as well,” Carroll said of Metcalf against Philadelphia. “He had the ball in his hands almost 60 yards of that drive, but he had to keep the rhythm of it going, of getting the ball back to the official and doing the disciplined things.
“He did everything just impeccably.”
Yes, the officials. The men who have been giving him extraordinary attention all season, and last.
DK Metcalf, ball-hander
A subtle example of a calmer, headier, sophisticated Metcalf came before and immediately after that leaping, 34-yard catch in double coverage with 49 seconds remaining.
The play call was for Metcalf to run a shorter, turn-back route. Just before Lock got the shotgun snap, he turned to Metcalf outside far right and gave him a gesture.
“Hats off, Drew, for on the last catch that I had,” Metcalf said. “I had a curl route at first. And then he looked out (at the defense) and gave me a signal and changed my route.”
It became a go route — and a mammoth, game-changing completion.
But the Seahawks had only one time out remaining. Metcalf realized the covering sideline official did not rule him down out of bounds following his catch, though it appeared he was. He figured correctly that the clock was still running. So he didn’t toss the ball to that covering official on the sideline, as most receivers do in most situations.
Amid the roars of the fans in Lumen Field and chaos of 10 teammates hurrying down the field and into formation at the Eagles 30-yard line, Metcalf got off the ground and ran with the ball in his hand to the middle of the field. That’s where the official responsible for spotting the ball was waiting for it.
Rather than risk time wasted between the ball getting from official to official, sideline to the field’s middle, Metcalf hand-delivered it to ensure a quicker spotting of the ball for the next play.
“I got in trouble my rookie year for not doing that,” Metcalf said.
It was an early season practice in September 2019. The Seahawks were running a 2-minute drill. Metcalf caught a pass and threw it to the official as he and his teammates ran to the next play without huddling.
Carroll and then-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer both berated their rookie wide receiver: NEVER toss the ball to an official in a 2-minute drill. Always hand it to the spotting official in the middle of the field.
The Seahawks offense had to start the drill over back at the other end of the field because of Metcalf’s blunder.
“That still haunts me to this day to where I’m not trying to be the guy that messes that up,” he said.
So he said late in Monday night’s game “I wasn’t just trying to be a repeat offender.”
What a difference a week — and a win — makes.
Instead of explaining his ejection (he said he didn’t realize Warner had lateraled his intercepted ball to a teammate before he tackled him, then Warner hit him in the back of the head), Metcalf is explaining how a new vibe has taken over the locker room for Seattle’s final, three-game push for the playoffs.
It continues Sunday against the Titans in Nashville. Metcalf will be eager to put on another show for family members and friends who will be making the four-hour drive from his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, for the Seahawks’ Christmas Eve game.
“Just for us to be back on the winning side of everything, it just gives us hope,” Metcalf said.
“It’s just a big wave of confidence flowing through this building. But hopefully we can ride that these last few weeks.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
