Tag: D.K. Metcalf

Vikings will have hands full with Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf

Through four games, the Vikings have allowed four 100-yard receivers. 

When the Seahawks drafted D.K. Metcalf in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, there were questions if Metcalf was agile enough to succeed in the NFL.

Well, those concerns seem silly now.

After posting 900 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie, Metcalf is off to a hot start to the 2020 season, piling up 403 receiving yards and three touchdowns through four games. He’s had back-to-back 100-yard games.

He could turn that into three-straight 100-yard games as he goes up against the Vikings on Sunday Night Football in Seattle. The Vikings rank 29th in pass defense this season.

In last season’s game against the Vikings, Metcalf finished with six catches for 75 yards.

Minnesota’s defensive backs are young. There is plenty of potential there, but it’s a unit that has struggled this season.

Trying to stop Metcalf and Tyler Lockett is a challenge for any defense, especially so for an inexperienced one.

Through four games, the Vikings have allowed four 100-yard receivers.

Fantasy Football Market Report: Week 5

One month into the NFL and fantasy football season, some players are moving up the charts quickly while others are near rock bottom.

We are in a transition season in the NFL. Whether it was COVID-19 that kept teams from building up to the regular season or simply the tipping point of games being predominantly high-scoring, what has happened through four weeks in the 2020 NFL is startling and unprecedented.

Teams are routinely scoring 30 points or more – at a record-setting pace.

To put it in perspective, in the previous five seasons – four of those consisting of 63 games because of the start of bye season and one with 64 – there was a consistency to how many teams would have a high-scoring game of 30+ points. From 2015-19, through four weeks of the season, the numbers of teams who scored 30 or more in a game was a near-flat line (30-32-28-33-28). That’s crazy consistent.

Heading into Monday’s Atlanta-Green Bay game, there had been 62 games played. In those games, 51 teams scored 30 or more points in a game. Green Bay became the 52nd when they dropped 30 points on Atlanta.

In the previous five years, it tended to be only one team that scored 30+. Of the 151 teams that scored 30 or more, they won 85 percent of the games (128-23).

Last year, if you scored 30 in Weeks 1-4, you had a winning percentage of more than 89 percent (25-3). This year? Teams scoring 30 or more points won 39 games, but 12 who also scored 30 have lost. That’s an average of three games a week in which both teams hit that lofty number and they combined to have a winning percentage of 76.5 percent.

Is it a sign of the times? Is it a sign of no training camp or preseason that has given offenses the clear edge to move the ball? All fantasy players know is that points are up and they like it that way…unless the bomb drops on them.

Here is the Week 5 Fantasy Market Report:

Fantasy Football Risers

Dak Prescott, QB, Dallas Cowboys

There’s a strange simpatico fantasy owners have with Dallas quarterbacks. Guys didn’t love Tony Romo, but drafted him every year because they wished for Dallas to fall behind by double digits early and it was game-on for garbage points trying to come back.

Over the last three weeks, Prescott has thrown for an ungodly 1,424 yards with eight touchdown passes and three TD runs. His pass-yardage total has been 450, 472 and 502. Who cares if his team sucks. He’s taking fantasy owners to the pay window all by himself.

Kareem Hunt, RB, Cleveland Browns

Sometimes Dame Fortune smiles on a guy. In 2017, I was in three leagues. The only player I had in all of them was Hunt. He was incredible. His career took a major backward step, but, as the clear No. 2 guy in Cleveland – he hasn’t had more than 17 touches in a game – he has managed to rush for 275 yards and has scored five touchdowns in his last three games.

With Nick Chubb down for a month or more, Hunt has every chance to relive his eye-popping rookie season.

Tom Brady, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The word, as it has been every time Brady has struggled in the first couple of games, was that he was washed up. He’s hit the wall. In his first two games with the Bucs, he didn’t hit 240 yards, had as many interceptions (3) as touchdowns and had a passer rating under 80.0.

In the last two games? 666 passing yards (make what you want out of that) with eight touchdowns, one pick and a passer rating over 116.0. Seems like the Brady we remember…again.

D.K. Metcalf, WR, Seattle Seahawks

If consistency is what you’re looking for, look no further. In four games, he has caught four passes in each. That would be reason for benching in a lot of leagues. But, he has yardage totals of 95, 92, 110 and 106. He has averaged 23 yards a catch or better in every game (25.2 overall) and has scored a touchdown in three of four games.

Metcalf is going to be a superstar and won’t be had as reasonably as he has been his first two season on fantasy draft day. Russ is going to get him paid – whether with Seattle or somewhere else.

Antonio Gibson, RB, Washington Football Team

This is a sneaky play designed for being an option when bye weeks hit. He hasn’t rushed for more than 55 yards in any game, but his carry-share has been going up significantly. He has scored a rushing touchdown in each of the last three games and his competition in the Washington backfield is quickly disappearing, while his is stock is going up.

Nobody with other viable options will start Gibson, but he could be nice to have on your roster as a throw-in on a trade to stash in case COVID times get desperate.

Fantasy Football Fallers

Josh Jacobs, RB, Oakland Raiders

Jacobs was selected on fantasy rosters to be that owner’s No. 1 running back. When he rushed for three touchdowns in Week 1, he was locked into lineups regardless of what followed. Since then, his rushing attempts have dropped (27-16-15), his yardage has dropped (88-71-48), he is little more than a check-down receiver and he hasn’t scored a touchdown. You can’t bench him because of his role in the Vegas offense. You may want to. You just can’t.

DeSean Jackson, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Jackson is a polarizing player. By any measure, he should have Julian Edelman-style reception numbers, yet he has never been able to be anything more than a one-trick pony. And, in his second run in Philadelphia, he’s been cashing checks and showing nothing. A quarter of the way through the season, he has 10 catches for 121 yards, no touchdowns and is nursing an injury. If you have him on your roster, cut him or trade him immediately. He’s taking up space that could be better utilized by someone else.

Evan Engram, TE, New York Giants

In leagues in which tight ends are mandatory, there have been a lot of big days posted along the way. Not by Engram. He is the Giants leading receiver in terms of targets (30) and catches (17), but he’s Marcedes Lewis 2.0.

For all his athleticism and talent, he averaged 7.7 yards a catch with only one of more than 12 yards and has no touchdowns. Those in TE-required leagues likely aren’t benching him, but they’re getting beat in their weekly position battles by their opponents because Engram is giving them scraps.

David Montgomery, RB, Chicago Bears

Montgomery was one of those guys in draft rankings that was expected to become an elite fantasy back. You shook the Magic 8-Ball. “All Signs Point to Yes.”

The Bears have been playing light’s out defense, which typically gets a running back a lot of play. But, through four games, Montgomery has just 53 carries for 218 yards and no touchdowns – and 24-72-0 rushing numbers over the last two – and his only touchdown was on a check-down pass that broke wide open. He was drafted to be an NFL RB1, but hasn’t showed it.

Irv Smith, TE, Minnesota Vikings

When Minnesota drafted Smith last year, the thought was that he would take over the role Kyle Rudolph has as one of the most potent Red Zone tight ends in the league. Instead, through four games, Smith has been healthy, but targeted just six times, catching two passes for 14 yards and no touchdowns. He’s rendered himself unplayable and, at this point, most people who took a flyer on him have bailed.

Fantasy Football Targets, Touches & TDs: Week 4

Breaking down the key targets and how those are turning into production for fantasy football teams through the first three weeks of the NFL season.

We are three weeks into NFL 2020, and the fantasy football picture is starting to gain some clarity as to the players we can trust in our fantasy football lineups and those we can’t on a weekly basis.

It’s certainly been an odd but interesting season for fantasy wide receivers so far with a number of key wideouts missing time due to injuries. That list includes the likes of Michael Thomas, Julio Jones, Kenny Golladay, Davante Adams, Courtland Sutton, Chris Godwin, A.J. Brown, D.J. Chark, John Brown, Jamison Crowder, Breshard Perriman, Deebo Samuel, Sterling Shepard and Diontae Johnson.

Usually, that kind of health uncertainty is normally more reserved for running backs, but if 2020 has taught us anything so far, it’s anything but a normal year.

In the meantime, a number of wide receivers – Calvin Ridley, D.K. Metcalf, Terry McLaurin, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Allen Lazard, among others – have stepped up in their place to grab an early high spot on the fantasy wideout leaderboard.

That established, it’s time to take a positional snapshot by breaking down the basic fantasy wide receiver stats and pegging what’s sustainable and what’s not. As usual, all stats are through play Sunday in Week 3.

Total targets leaders (top 15)

Keenan Allen 37, DeAndre Hopkins 37, Amari Cooper 35, Ridley 35, Allen Robinson 31, Tyler Lockett 29, Stefon Diggs 28, A.J. Green 28, Tyler Boyd 26, D.J. Moore 26, McLaurin 25, D. Johnson 25, Robby Anderson 24, Julian Edelman 24, Russell Gage Jr. 24, Jerry Jeudy 24

Surprise inclusion: Anderson, Panthers. The speedy wideout, more renowned as a deep threat, has been targeted at least six times in every contest and is on pace for a career-high 128.

In his four previous seasons with the Jets, Anderson only reached 100 targets once and that was with on a 5-11 team where his chief competition for targets were with the likes of Jermaine Kearse, Jeremy Kerley, tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins and aging running back Matt Forte.

Surprise omission: Adam Thielen, Vikings. He does fall just outside the above list, tied for 21st with 21 targets, but much more was expected out of Thielen with Diggs, his long-time wide receiver 1A cohort, traded to the Buffalo Bills this season.

Thielen is on pace for 112 targets, which would fall well below his last two previous full-season totals of 142 and 153.

Surprise omission II: T.Y. Hilton, Colts. He’s only attracted 17 targets so far (tied for 39th overall), and is on pace for a measly 57. His previous low in a season in which he’s played at least 14 games is 90 in his rookie campaign of 2012.

Hilton’s new QB, of course, is check-down master Philip Rivers, but perhaps the receiver’s low target total is more a game-flow situation with Hilton only getting eight targets the last two weeks in games in which they’ve been comfortably ahead throughout. In Week 1’s 27-20 loss to the Jaguars, Hilton had nine targets.

Projected end-of-season top five: Hopkins, Allen, Robinson, Ridley, Adams

Receptions leaders (top 15)

Hopkins 32, Cooper 25, Allen 24, Lockett 24, Ridley 21, Boyd 21, Diggs 20, Anderson 20, Cooper Kupp 18, Robinson 18, Adams 17, Gage 17, Smith-Schuster 17, CeeDee Lamb 16, McLaurin 16

Surprise inclusion: Gage, Falcons. Atlanta has been one of the NFL’s pass-heaviest teams so far with 129 attempts and 90 completions in four games, but the Falcons’ second-leading pass-catcher after three games figured to be Jones, new tight end Hayden Hurst or even RB Todd Gurley. Gage, however has six more receptions than any other Atlanta player aside from Ridley’s 21, and that’s with the wide receiver departing in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Bears with a concussion.

Gage quietly finished his second season a year ago with 49 catches for 449 yards and one TD so perhaps we all should’ve been paying more attention.

Surprise omission: Green is tied for seventh in targets (28) but is way down at 26th in receptions with 13, making for a less-than-optimal 46.4 catch percentage. Those 13 catches also have only gone for 116 yards (8.9 per reception) as the 32-year-old Green has showed rust from his missed season of 2019 and hasn’t been on the same page with rookie QB Joe Burrow so far.

Projected end-of-season top five: Hopkins, Adams, Lockett, Allen, Thomas

Receiving yards leaders (top 15)

Hopkins 356, Ridley 349, Metcalf 297, Diggs 288, Anderson 278, McLaurin 269, Cooper 267, Allen 265, Edelman 259, Lockett 259, Lazard 254, Michael Gallup 246, Justin Jefferson 245, D.J. Moore 239, Boyd 230, Lamb 230, Robinson 230

Surprise inclusion: Edelman, Patriots. It’s no surprise that Edelman is leading the Pats in targets (24) and receptions (15) so far – even with new QB Cam Newton – but his average of 17.3 yards per reception is eye-popping after he entered the season with a career average of 10.9.

However, it largely has been the product of one game – Edelman’s career-best 179 yards on eight catches in a Week 2 shootout in Seattle – so expect his yard-per-reception average regress closer to the mean as the season progresses.

Surprise omission: Mike Evans, Buccaneers. Evans, who has also had health issues this season, ranks ninth with 34.8 fantasy points (standard scoring), thanks largely to four touchdowns, but those four scoring grabs have covered a total of 27 yards as he’s had a 2-yard and two 1-yard TD receptions.

Overall, Evans ranks 61st among wideouts with 108 yards on 10 catches. For reference, Evans entered the season with a career average of 15.7 yards per reception. Perhaps, though, this is simply a function of the new Tom Brady-led offense with shorter passes and fewer receiving yards but more efficiency.

Projected end-of-season top five: Ridley, Hopkins, Diggs, Metcalf, McLaurin

Receiving touchdowns leaders (top 15)

Evans 4, Lockett 4, Ridley 4, Metcalf 3, Smith-Schuster 3, Thielen 3, Adams 2, Braxton Berrios 2, Brown 2, Keelan Cole 2, Diggs 2, Tee Higgins 2, Tyreek Hill 2, Dontrelle Inman 2, Andy Isabella 2, Lazard 2, Anthony Miller 2, Emmanuel Sanders 2, Darius Slayton 2, Cedrick Wilson 2

Surprise inclusion: Wilson, Cowboys. The second-year player out of Boise State reeled in 5-of-7 targets for 107 yards and two scores in Sunday’s (most recent) shootout in Seattle for his first career TDs.

That gives Wilson double the combined TDs of the Cowboys’ top three wideouts (Cooper, Gallup and Lamb) on the season despite 68 fewer targets.

Surprise omission: Cooper, Cowboys. He entered the season with 14 scoring grabs in 25 games with Dallas since coming over in a trade midway through the 2018 season, but he’s only garnered one of the team’s 11 red-zone targets so far and came out of Sunday with the highest target total (35) in the league without a scoring catch.

And that’s also playing on a team which the most passing attempts (145) and completions (96) in the league so far.

Projected end-of-season top five: Lockett, Adams, Ridley, Thielen, Metcalf

Fantasy Football Extra Points

  • With a pair of TDs in each of his three contests so far, Saints RB Alvin Kamara already has matched his touchdown total (six) from his injury-addled 2019 season – and he’s done so on 194 fewer touches. Kamara combined for 31 total TDs in his first two seasons (2017-18) and a career-high 20-TD season appears well within reach at this point, barring another health issue.
  • Kamara only has four fewer receptions (27) than rushing attempts (31) so far, and he trails only Hopkins (32) in total catches. He has eight more targets and 11 more receptions than any other league running back and his 284 yards after the catch are a whopping 110 more than any other pass-catcher in the league. Kamara is the early front-runner to be the Christian McCaffrey of 2020.
  • Speaking of McCaffrey, his injury absence has opened the door for backup Mike Davis who has totaled 16 receptions (trailing only Kamara among RBs for the season) on 17 targets while also carrying the ball 14 times since taking over late in Week 2. Davis scored a pair of TDs on 21 touches Sunday in 21-16 road upset of the Chargers.
  • Over the last two weeks, Darrell Henderson appears to have taken hold of the Rams’ starting running back gig, rushing for 195 yards and a pair of TDs on 32 carries and bringing in three of six targets for 46 yards for a total of 39.1 fantasy points (point-per-reception scoring). Battling injuries, fellow L.A. backs Malcolm Brown and Cam Akers have combined for 79 total yards on 21 touches over the two games for 7.9 PPR points.
  • There are some scary stats for those mining for a fantasy running back option in the Giants’ backfield post-Saquon Barkley. Through three weeks, the Giants not only have totaled the fewest rushing attempts (53) and lowest rushing-play percentage (30.3) in the league but they also own the fewest rushing yards (170) and lowest yard-per-attempt (3.21) average as well. In Sunday’s first game without Barkley, New York rushed for 66 yards on 15 attempts in a 36-9 thumping by the 49ers, but 49 of those yards came on five scrambles by quarterback Daniel Jones, leaving a combined 17 yards on 10 rushes for Devonta Freeman (5-10), Wayne Gallman (4-7) and Dion Lewis (1-0).
  • According to ProFootballReference.com’s advanced receiving stats, Metcalf leads all qualifying players with an average of 19.7 air yards per reception, followed by Gallup (18.2), Miller (17.2), Isabella (16.3) and the Panthers’ D.J. Moore (15.8).
  • Even with fellow Jack Doyle back and playing 53 percent of the Colts’ offensive snaps, Mo Alie-Cox played 60 percent of the snaps and was the only Indy tight end to catch a pass Sunday, bringing in all three of his targets for 50 yards and a TD. Certainly a player in a tight end-friendly offense to keep in mind.

The good, the bad, and the ugly from Seahawks’ win over Cowboys

Seattle’s 38-31 victory over Dallas was anything but boring, and featured both the best and the worst that the Seahawks had to offer.

The Seattle Seahawks entered Week 3 with two wins under their belt and an eagerness to test themselves against the Dallas Cowboys’ potent offense. An eventful 60 minutes later, the Seahawks had triumphed, 38-31, to stand alone atop the NFC West with a perfect 3-0 record. There was good, bad, and even ugliness to be found in just about every aspect of the game – here are just a few things that stood out . . .

THE GOOD

Ability to capitalize: The Seahawks offense in Week 3 was not as effective as it was in Weeks 1 and 2. Although Russell Wilson threw for five touchdowns, three of them to receiver Tyler Lockett, much of Seattle’s momentum was generated from Dallas penalties as opposed to stringing together precise throws or long runs. The Cowboys relinquished 59 yards on 10 flags, one of which negated a Wilson interception and another of which gave Seattle a second shot at a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. In future weeks, the Seahawks cannot rely on the opposing defense to play sloppily; however, Seattle definitively showed on Sunday that this team will find a way to create and take advantage of key opportunities to score.

Alton Robinson: Robinson, who was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, bullied Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott throughout the entire game. The rookie defensive end was responsible for a late-game sack and two tackles for loss in his NFL debut and nearly had more were it not for Prescott’s ability to scamper when needed. The Seahawks will likely be giving Robinson more action in the coming weeks, especially with their noted issues in the pass rush.

THE BAD

Tre Flowers: Flowers, filling in for the injured Quinton Dunbar at cornerback, was only saved from the “ugly” category this week due to an early pass breakup and an extra-point block. The rest of his performance was less than stellar in just about every way: a dropped interception, two (declined) penalties, key missed tackles, and losing Cowboys receiver Michael Gallup on a 43-yard touchdown pass. The Seahawks’ issues in the secondary were only amplified by Flowers’ woes, as Prescott made them pay with 472 passing yards – 294 of which came on 13 throws of 10 or more yards.

THE UGLY

Metcalf’s gaffe: As the first quarter wound down with the score tied 9-9, Russell Wilson unleashed a superb 62-yard bomb to D.K. Metcalf, who trotted towards the end zone for a no-doubt touchdown. The problem –  Cowboys rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs, who was not as far behind as Metcalf had thought. Just before the goal line, Diggs reached his arm out and punched the ball out of Metcalf’s arms, where it bounced through the back of the end zone for a Dallas touchback. Metcalf has been such a prolific pass-catcher for the team that it can be difficult to remember that he is only in his second year as a pro, and thus susceptible to the occasional mental lapse that plagues many young players. This could have been costly for the Seahawks – after all, they only won by seven points – but it is unlikely that Metcalf will make such an error again.

Injuries: Week 3 was no kinder than Week 2 to the Seahawks on the injury front, as a number of key players – headlined by star safety Jamal Adams and running back Chris Carson – had to leave the contest due to various afflictions. In all, six Seahawks missed part or all of the game following injury: Adams (groin), Carson (knee), guard Damien Lewis (ankle), guard Mike Iupati (knee), linebacker Jordyn Brooks (knee), and center Ethan Pocic (knee). Coach Pete Carroll said after the game that the severity of many of the injuries are unknown, although both Iupati and Pocic were able to return to the game.

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Cowboys rookie Trevon Diggs saves TD vs. Seahawks with big forced fumble

Watch Dallas Cowboys rookie Trevor Diggs save a touchdown with a big turnover

The Dallas Cowboys couldn’t overcome Russell Wilson in Week 3, but they did get a huge play from rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs.

The second-round pick out of Alabama turned a big play for Seattle into a crushing blow, hustling downfield on a long reception and punching the ball away from D.K. Metcalf, sending it bouncing out the back of the end zone for a touchback.

Someone must have never seen that DeSean Jackson highlight.

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Watch: Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf goes full Leon Lett, costs his team a touchdown

On Sunday, D.K. Metcalf of the Seahawks went Full Leon Lett. Never go Full Leon Lett.

If you’ve watched football long enough, you’ll see just about everything. If you watch it longer than that, you’ll see just about everything twice.

On Sunday afternoon, Russell Wilson of the Seahawks was busy doing what Russell Wilson has been doing all season — cooking defenses to a nice golden brown. Sadly, second-year receiver, who is already responsible for a few of Wilson’s rare incompletions, wasn’t on the same page. As he took in one of Wilson’s gorgeous deep passes (when you hear everyone say that Wilson is the NFL’s best deep-ball thrower, believe it), Metcalf was wide open against Cowboys rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs. All Metcalf had to do was to hold onto the ball and coast into the end zone.

This, he did not do.

Metcalf is one of the NFL’s best young receivers, but this lack of situational awareness is inexcusable, and if the Seahawks lose this game, he’ll have a lot of questions to answer. The ball went out of the end zone, and the Cowboys were awarded the ball at their own 20-yard line.

Where have we seen this before? Why, in Super Bowl XXVII, of course! Here, Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett recovers a fumble from Bills backup quarterback (and current Colts head coach) Frank Reich. The Cowboys were already up, 52-17, so it’s not like this affected the game, but Bills receiver Don Beebe wasn’t having it.

So, when we refer to someone going “Full Leon Lett,” this is what we mean. Never go Full Leon Lett under any circumstances. Or Full D.K. Metcalf, for that matter.

What Bill Belichick, Devin McCourty and others said about Russell Wilson’s remarkable performance

Russell Wilson lit up the Patriots’ historically great defense on Sunday night. Here’s what everybody had to say about it.

Early on in the Seahawks’ 35-30 win over the Patriots on Sunday night, Russell Wilson threw a pass to tight end Greg Olsen that bounced off Olsen’s hands and was returned by defensive back Devin McCourty for a 43-yard pick-six.

It was one of the few plays Wilson’s been involved with this season that didn’t have a positive result. Through two games and two Seattle wins in 2020, Wilson has completed 52 of 63 passes for 610 yards, nine touchdowns, and that one interception that wasn’t his fault. Wilson has as many touchdowns as he has incompletions, and at least half his incompletions this season have bounced off the hands of his receivers. Last season, the Patriots allowed just four touchdown passes to receivers; Wilson had four such plays in Sunday night’s game. Wilson leads the league in completion percentage, touchdown passes, Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt, and quarterback rating.

As good as he’s been throughout his career, Wilson is now hitting things at an entirely new level.

Exhibit A: This ridiculous touchdown pass to D.K. Metcalf:

Exhibit B: This even more ridiculous touchdown pass to David Moore:

Last Thursday, when Bill Belichick was asked his opinion of Wilson, he had a lot to say about the quarterback his defense was about to face.

“I mean, this guy’s a tremendous player. Honestly, I think he’s in a way maybe underrated by the media or the fans, I don’t know, but I mean I don’t really see anybody better than this player. He can do everything. He’s got obviously great leadership, playmaking skills. He plays very well in the most critical situations in the game – his decision-making, running, passing. His passing numbers are extraordinary. You could put him up against anybody since he’s been in the league, literally anybody, in any category, really. His winning percentage is impressive. He’s there for every game, never missed a game. He’s got a great, great ability to do the right thing at the right time. He has tremendous vision and sees the field extremely well. I don’t think there’s a better deep ball passer in the league in terms of decision making and accuracy.

“He attacks every – literally every inch of the field you have to defend with him – the deep balls, the sidelines, his scrambles, his ability to get the ball to his playmakers and in space, and then you have to try to tackle him, which that’s very difficult too. You know, [Tyler] Lockett has lead the league in all-purpose yards. Russell’s got 4,000 yards rushing, 30,000 yards passing. Lockett’s been a go-to guy for them in all phases of the game – return game and offensively. [D.K.] Metcalf, now they’ve got [Greg] Olson, [Chris] Carson probably runs as hard as anybody in the league, so there are a lot of weapons there. I could go on and on – offensive line, [Duane] Brown – I mean, they have a lot of good players that are hard to handle and you put them all together and it’s orchestrated by Wilson. They’re very, very hard to define.”

Belichick after the game:

“Russell Wilson is a great player. He does everything well. He’s extremely hard to defend and he hurt us tonight in pretty much every way possible. He’s very difficult to handle. They have some very good weapons with him that he can use – the running game, [Duane] Brown on the offensive line, they got the ball outside. He made three great throws on the three long touchdowns. Two of which were very well defended, the other one wasn’t bad, he had a guy right in his face and he still made a great throw. You just have to give him credit. He definitely stressed us a lot with his scrambles and his long balls, his accuracies on the zones. He just did everything well. He’s very, very hard to defend.”

And even McCourty, with his pick-six, came away with respect.

“We talked about a lot of Wilson’s interceptions are really not bad decisions, a tipped ball or something like that. We knew that defensively we had to be very opportunistic because we aren’t going to get many chances. You saw that throughout the game, he just makes good decisions. He doesn’t try to force the ball and hold it and try to make a play with his legs. We just tried to take advantage of any opportunity we got.”

As for Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, he’s quite happy to “let Russ cook” at an Anthony Bourdain level these days.

“Against a really, really difficult defense to deal with. They have historically been really a problem. Russ had a terrific night again, and the pass protection was excellent for us all night long, handling all of the stunts and the pressures and the different things that they do, the variety of things they do. So, a really big night for us to handle those kinds of problems. Russ threw five touchdown passes tonight. You can just see that he is really in command of what we’re doing, and his receivers came through beautifully. There were so many big plays and great catches. DK’s bomb. The one to David Moore. The great catch that David Moore made on a third down play, where he took the ball off the top of the grass. So many guys. Tyler had a good game. We got Chris again in the end zone, on a big play, on a great throw and catch and route and all of that. The throwing game was really alive.”

Seahawks receiver David Moore, after his historically difficult touchdown reception, on his quarterback:

“It’s just good to see him out there doing his thing. He wants to go out there and they want to let him cook, and he’s doing what he’s doing. We’ve got plans for everybody that we play. The fact that we can go out there and execute as a team, as a whole, that’s all we can ask for.

“His deep ball is great because he gives everybody a chance. He puts to where usually you can get it, and you can get it only. All you really have to do is put your hands out and make a play. He’s going to let you go out there and do that. It’s up to you to deliver the rest of it. The fact that he can do that and put that mug at a spot where it’s going to be hard for the DB to get a touch or anything of it, that’s great. That’s what you want. When you run down the field and you just see that deep ball in the air. Our coaches told us to breathe this whole week. To just ‘breathe, breathe, breathe. It’s going to come; it’s going to come. Just be ready when it comes.’ That ball, it can be dangerous when it’s in the air like that. But as long as you breathe and just concentrate, you’ll be alright.”

As for Wilson, he’s in a groove, and he just wants to keep it going.

“I think guys are just making tremendous plays. I think that Coach Schotty [offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer] is doing an unbelievable job of calling plays, we’re mixing the ball up in terms of who is catching it, who is touching it, in terms of the running game and everything else. I think the guys up front are doing a great job, man, they’re giving me time to make throws and allowing me to try to make some of these throws and stuff like that. So I just think that it all comes down to the kind of guys you have in the room, on the field and everything else.

Like I said, I think Coach Schotty’s doing a great very good job of calling the plays and the QB room is great with Geno and Danny and Austin Davis and we spend a lot of time together. Guys like Dave Canales, we spend a lot of time together just working on it and just spend a lot of time trying to be great. So like I said, I think that it’s just a start, and we want to continue to have a hot hand, we want to continue to deliver the ball to the right guy at the right time.”

Next up for Wilson? The Cowboys, who came away with an improbable comeback win over the Falcons on Sunday.

Watch: Russell Wilson’s TD pass to David Moore was historically impressive

Russell Wilson has never received an MVP vote in his entire NFL career. He’s making it very tough for people to ignore him in 2020.

Russell Wilson has never received an NFL MVP vote in his career, which seems preposterous. Through the first two games of the 2020 season, Wilson seems bound and determined to make the voters notice him by playing at a level even he’s never attained before.

In the second quarter of Seattle’s Sunday night game against the Patriots, Wilson stated his case with an incredible 54-yard touchdown pass to receiver D.K. Metcalf.

That play was impressive enough for its own reasons.

Apparently though, Wilson was just warming up. This 38-yarder to David Moore was even more ridiculous.

An incredible throw by Wilson, and such a great job by Moore to know where he was on the field, and to use the pylon as an in-bounds marker with his second foot.

And what did the propellor-heads at Next Gen Stats say about the probability rate of this touchdown? Basically, it bent their maths.

Wilson had just four incompletions in his Week 1 game against the Falcons, and heading into the fourth quarter against the Patriots, he had eight touchdown passes this season — and seven incompletions. More than one of those incompletions went right through the hands of his receivers, and the Moore touchdown marked the third of four against the NFL’s best pass defense in 2019.

It is clearly Wilson’s intent to make things as difficult as possible for the MVP voters when it comes time to ignore him at the end of the 2020 season.

Stephon Gilmore, D.K. Metcalf get into scuffle on sidelines during scrappy game

Stephon Gilmore and D.K. Metcalf got into it the entire night.

Stephon Gilmore and D.K. Metcalf had heated exchanges throughout the entire game on Sunday night.

The New England Patriots didn’t have answers for Russell Wilson’s deep passes and Metcalf began that trend. He scored a 54-yard touchdown on Gilmore in a shocking fashion. Metcalf’s combination of speed and size was just too overwhelming for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

Gilmore continued to go back and forth with hand checking and trash talking after that touchdown. It led to a scuffle on the sidelines that could’ve gotten out of control quickly.

It’s difficult to see what happened in the scuffle, but Metcalf had a hold of Gilmore’s mask toward the end.

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Twitter isn’t happy with Allen Robinson’s Top 100 Players of 2020 ranking

Twitter reacted to Robinson landing at No. 93 on the Top 100 Players of 2020 list, and they’re not happy. And rightfully so.

It’s that time of year again. When NFL Network unveils its Top 100 Players list, and there’s plenty of controversy surrounding the rankings of players. The list is voted on by players, but some fans feel it can be more of a popularity contest than anything.

Case in point: Bears receiver Allen Robinson, who landed at No. 93 on the countdown. While Robinson certainly deserved to make the list, there are many fans at have something to say about Robinson being ranked below some other notable names and others continue to praise Robinson for what he’s been able to accomplish despite the offensive deficiencies around him.

Robinson’s teammate Cordarrelle Patterson took to Twitter to make it clear that the Bears need to make signing Robinson to a contract extension a priority, something Bears faithful has been preaching all offseason.

Twitter reacted to Robinson landing at No. 93 on the Top 100 Players of 2020 list — behind the likes of Seattle Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen — and they’re not happy. And rightfully so.

Robinson thrived in one of the NFL’s worst offenses last season, nabbing a career-best 98 receptions for 1,147 yards and seven touchdowns. That with questionable quarterback play, something he’s had to deal with throughout his career.

Robinson remains one of the most disrespected players in the NFL, and this list is another reason why. He might not be the loudest guy, but Robinson lets his play speak for itself. And that should be enough.

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