DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett full go, debuting RG for Seahawks’ quest to avoid ‘trap’ at Jets
DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett got attention this week for missing practices with injuries.
They’ll be getting attention Sunday for their usual reasons.
Metcalf and Lockett were not on the injury report the Seahawks issued Friday, meaning the veteran wide receivers will play for what some see as a potential “trap game” for the Seahawks in suburban New York Sunday.
Metcalf had a shoulder issue Wednesday and Thursday. He missed two games early this month with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee.
He caught a key pass from Geno Smith on third down with 6 minutes remaining in Seattle’s game against Arizona last weekend. The 18-yard gain off Smith darting to his left then right away from two potential sacks and Metcalf’s improvisational route to open space in the middle of the field extended a drive to Jason Myers’ field goal.
That clinched a 16-6 win that has Seattle atop the NFC West entering December.
Lockett, 32, has been playing through pain recently. The 10-year veteran was last on a practice participation/injury report for a knee issue a month ago, before Seattle’s win at Atlanta. Lockett had four catches for 45 yards in that game.
“He’s a tough son of a gun,” coach Mike Macdonald said Friday following the indoor practice Metcalf and Lockett fully participated in.
Backups Brady Russell (foot) at tight end and AJ Finley (ankle) at safety are the only Seahawks on the injury report for Sunday’s game. They are questionable.
For New York, lead running back Breece Hall is questionable. His knee injury caused him to miss practice Wednesday and limited him Thursday. The Jets listed Hall as a full participant Friday. He has 632 yards rushing with four touchdowns this season.
The Jets enter the game with the league’s 30th-ranked rushing offense, two spots below the Seahawks at just 87.2 yards per game.
Lockett has been the third of the top-three receiving options for Smith lately. He has eight total catches over the last four games. That’s his fewest over a four-game span since Smith became Seattle’s quarterback before the 2022 season.
It’s Lockett’s fewest catches over four games since November into December 2019, with Russell Wilson as his quarterback. Lockett’s fifth game after that relative dry spell he had eight receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown Dec. 15, 2019, in Seattle’s 30-24 home win over Carolina.
Sataoa Laumea to make NFL debut
Sataoa Laumea making his first NFL start Sunday, replacing injured Anthony Bradford at right guard. His start against the Jets will also be his first NFL game.
The rookie sixth-round draft choice from Utah beat out rookie third-round pick Christian Haynes for the job in practices this week — though Macdonald emphasized it was Laumea practicing well for months that led to this choice.
“He’s earned it,” Macdonald said.
The head coach said the team has “a plan” for if and when it will rotate Haynes in at right guard Sunday, as he did earlier this season alternating some with Bradford.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb said this week his preference is for one guy to play the entire game at right guard, to keep continuity along the line for center Olu Oluwatimi.
Avoiding a “trap game”
The Seahawks are surging. They are coming off consecutive division wins, including their first over San Francisco in seven meetings over three years. That’s vaulted Seattle from last to first place in the NFC West.
The Seahawks have a big rematch against Arizona next week in the desert. Then they have consecutive home games against Green Bay (9-3) and Minnesota (9-2).
They flew Friday across the country to play the 3-8 Jets on a holiday weekend. The trip comes amid four huge division games in five weeks.
The Jets have lost seven of eight games. Two weeks ago they lost at Arizona 31-6. The owner flew in his helicopter that landed on the team’s field during a practice so he could fire the general manager, Joe Douglas, hours later. That was after owner Woody Johnson fired coach Robert Saleh and Rodgers’ favorite play caller Nathaniel Hackett earlier this season.
All that makes this the potential, dreaded “trap game.”
These Seahawks seem to know it.
Quarterback Geno Smith, who began his career as the Jets starter in 2013 and ‘14, said Seahawks’ rookie coach has emphasized maintaining intensity all this week.
Macdonald said Friday: “That’s who we are. We are going to do that every week. The season is this long roller coaster of all these things, and you’ve got to stay on it.”
Smith is the NFL’s leader in completions and interceptions through 11 games. He said: “For sure, it was intense in walkthroughs” this week.
“Guys are just taking this thing one game at a time. We going to treat each game like a playoff game from here on out, until we get to that point,” Smith said.
“And yeah, the leaders are doing a great job at making sure guys are focused. I think Mike is doing a great job at making sure we’re focused.”
This week that focus starts with the fact the Seahawks are facing future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, who turns 41 Monday, has won only four of the 12 starts he’s made for the Jets since the Packers traded him to New York before the 2023 season.
Rodgers is well under his career averages for passing this season. He’s been playing through leg injuries. His career passer rating is 102.9, a league record for a career. But this season it’s 88.9. That would be the lowest for a full season of the four-time NFL most valuable player’s 20-year career.
But he’s still Aaron Rodgers. That’s been Macdonald’s message to the Seahawks this week.
“I mean we’re playing Aaron Rodgers. Man, this guy, I don’t think...you don’t need to say anything else,” Macdonald said. “He’s got elite arm talent. He’s still able to extend the play. He knows all the things that are about to happen before they happen. He’s in complete control.
“So that’s the thought going into the whole thing.”
Beyond Rodgers, the Seahawks see a Jets defense that is ranked eighth overall in the league. Smith sees a New York pass defense that is second in the NFL, and doesn’t allow big plays thanks to a strong pass rush and formidable defensive front.
“That was the message (this week): They’re a very talented team,” Smith said. “The record doesn’t describe the type of team they are. They’ve been in a lot of close games, and they’re a great second-half team as well. They’re going to be at home coming off a bye. They’re trying to turn their season around, trying to finish on a good note.
“And so they don’t care that we’re coming in or what we have going on. Again, this is the NFL. They got Aaron Rodgers, they got great players on that team and we got to go out there and we got to take it. It’s going to be tough, but we got the right mentality and the right guys.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 1:32 PM.
