Tag: dk metcalf

How and when to watch the “2021 Pro Bowl Celebration” on Sunday

“Everything you need to know to catch the “2021 Pro Bowl Celebration presented by Verizon” on Sunday, Jan. 31.

Things have looked a lot different around the National Football League this season due to the coronavirus pandemic and this year’s “Pro Bowl” will be no different. While the game itself will not be played at all, there will be a celebration to honor the players named to the roster.

ESPN will be airing a two-hour special called “2021 Pro Bowl Celebration presented by Verizon” featuring highlights from the season and special appearances from AFC and NFC players via Zoom calls.

Sam Ponder and Randy Moss will co-host the celebration and Suzy Kolber will be interviewing Super Bowl LV quarterbacks Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Buccaneers’ Tom Brady.

The Seahawks had seven players named to the Pro Bowl Roster this year: quarterback Russell Wilson, wide receiver DK Metcalf, linebacker Bobby Wagner, safety Jamal Adams, safety Quandre Diggs, long snapper Tyler Ott and special teamer Nick Bellore.

The special will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 31 at 12 p.m. PT on ESPN, ABC and Disney XD.

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DK Metcalf on Seahawks’ offensive woes: ‘Teams just started to figure us out’

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf joined the I Am Athlete podcast with Brandon Marshall to discuss the team’s offensive woes.

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DK Metcalf joined former NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall on the “I Am Athlete” podcast to discuss what went wrong with the Seattle Seahawks’ offense in the second half of the 2020 season.

The second-year wide receiver told Marshall that opposing teams limited Seattle’s offense primarily by taking away the deep ball.

“Teams just started to figure us out,” Metcalf said. “We’ve been running deep pass, ever since Pete [Carroll] got there. Play-action. Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, go deep. Teams just said, ‘We’re just not gonna let you all go deep.’”

Indeed, numerous teams constantly threw the Seahawks two-deep looks to eliminate shot plays, and it worked. Those big plays were a crucial component in Seattle’s volcanic offensive production in the first five weeks. They were never able to recapture that form for the rest of the season and they exited the postseason with a whimper because of it despite the defense improving by a considerable margin over the course of the year.

The Seahawks must work to maximize the talent they have on offense and find ways around the two-deep looks if they want to have any chance of competing for a title in 2021.

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DK Metcalf had a pair of sideline outburst while the Seahawks offense sputtered

It’s hard to fault DK Metcalf for his frustration.

The Seattle Seahawks had scored just three points with roughly four minutes to go in the second quarter of their postseason loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday in the Wild Card round. That’s when DK Metcalf stepped up with a 51-yard touchdown that trimmed the Seahawks’ deficit to three points.

It’s had been an emotional first half for the star receiver, who was spotted screaming on the sideline on two separate occasions. Early in the second quarter, Metcalf took off his helmet and spiked it at the ground after a rough series for the offense. Then during the second show of frustration, Metcalf got heated with coach Pete Carroll and backup quarterback Geno Smith.

It’s easy to argue that Metcalf’s frustration led to a huge game, with the receiver catching that touchdown pass, his first reception of the game, just minutes after his second outburst. He finished with five catches on 11 targets for 96 yards and two touchdowns.

But it’s also easy to see how the Seahawks mishandled Metcalf’s frustration. Perhaps in an attempt to appease his anger, the Seahawks called a screen pass immediately after his second sideline outburst. The play was predictable on two levels. It seemed obvious that Seattle would do what it could to feed Metcalf. And the Seahawks picked a play that was easily diagnosable for a well-prepared defense. That’s how Rams cornerback Darious Williams managed to anticipate the play and convert it into a pick-six.

It’s unfair to criticize Metcalf for getting frustrated over an offense that had scored three points, especially because he scored a touchdown when he finally touched the ball. The Seahawks coaching staff seemed to be more at fault, calling a simplistic play that the Rams capitalized upon. Metcalf was hardly the reason why the Rams, who were forced to deploy a former AAF quarterback (John Wolford) and a quarterback without a functional thumb (Jared Goff), managed to put up 30 points for a win.

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Rams CB Darious Williams gets the pick-six against Seahawks he just missed in Week 16

In Week 16 against the Seahawks, Rams cornerback Darious Williams just missed a pick-six. This time around, he didn’t miss at all.

Sometimes, it takes more than once to make the big play. When an opposing quarterback throws the ball right in your hands after you jump a route perfectly, the excitement of that instant — especially if you’ve got a potential pick-six in front of you — can make you drop the ball when you’d really rather not.

Rams cornerback Darious Williams, who’s probably the most underrated player at his position in the league this season, found this out in Week 16 against the Seahawks when he perfectly jumped a pass attempt from Russell Wilson to receiver Tyler Lockett, and only an agonizing drop prevented a touchdown.

Williams, who picked off two passes when the Rams and Seahawks met in Week 10, didn’t miss this time around — with 6:40 left in the first half, he jumped in front of DK Metcalf on a receiver screen — a remarkable play for any cornerback — and took it 42 yards to the house.

The third-year undrafted man from Birmingham-Alabama has enjoyed a breakout season in 2020. Coming into the playoffs, per Pro Football Focus, Williams had allowed just 34 receptions on 68 targets for 504 yards, 165 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, four interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 59.9.

WATCH: Russell Wilson finds DK Metcalf for 51 yards and the score

Watch as Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson finds wide receiver DK Metcalf for 51 yards and the score against the Rams.

The Seattle Seahawks were briefly back within 3 points of the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday after quarterback Russell Wilson found wider receiver DK Metcalf for 51 huge yards and the touchdown.

Both teams had gotten off to a fairly slow start in their wild-card matchup before each was able to manage more than a field goal.

In fact, Metcalf had been seen earlier in the game complaining on the sidelines about Seattle’s offense, or lack thereof, until he got his chance near the end of the first quarter.

After the score, Los Angeles led Seattle 13-10 before the Akers TD widened the Rams’ lead to 20-10.

Here’s a look at Wilson and Metcalf’s monster play.

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Watch: Russell Wilson to DK Metcalf for Seattle score

DK Metcalf’s first catch in the Wild-Card game went 51 yards for a Seattle TD against the Rams

The frustration boiled over. It led to a forced pass that turned into a Pick-6 for the Rams. Then, DK Metcalf came to the rescue of his quarterback and wound up with a 51-yard touchdown on Saturday in the Wild-Card game between Los Angeles and Seattle.

Watch: Darious Williams goes for Rams’ Pick-6

Darious Williams with the Pick-6 for the Los Angeles Rams

The theme of the first half of Saturday has been the frustration of DK Metcalf.

And it turned into Russell Wilson forcing a pass to the wide receiver that was picked off by Rams’ DB Darious Williams and turned into a 42-yard Pick-6.

The conversation was about Metcalf, who threw his helmet down on the sideline and was yapping. He had words with Head Coach Pete Carroll.

Wilson tried to get the wideout involved in the second quarter and disaster struck.

Jalen Ramsey wants to shadow DK Metcalf: ‘It should be big on big’

Jalen Ramsey was frustrated last time around when Seattle moved DK Metcalf away from him.

Jalen Ramsey has been in the NFL for five years, has played 78 career games (including the postseason) and matched up with countless Pro Bowl receivers. But on Saturday afternoon in Seattle, it will be the first time he’s faced a wideout three times in the same season.

“I don’t think so,” Ramsey said Thursday of whether he’s ever faced the same receiver three times in a year. This will be a first for me.”

That receiver, of course, is DK Metcalf, who Ramsey helped shut down in the Rams’ previous two games against the Seahawks. No team did a better job against Metcalf than Los Angeles, which held him to eight catches for 87 yards and no touchdowns, with the majority of those catches coming when Ramsey wasn’t in coverage.

The Seahawks made a concerted effort to move Metcalf around in their last game against the Rams, whether it was pre-snap motions, lining him up in the slot or simply putting him on the side where Ramsey wasn’t.

It was the result of Metcalf catching only two passes for 28 yards in Week 10 against the Rams, forcing Seattle to change up its game plan – which Ramsey didn’t particularly care for. With a player of Metcalf’s caliber on the other side, Ramsey feels they should match up the majority of the time.

“I was frustrated, for sure,” Ramsey told reporters. “In times like this and matchups like this, I feel personally it should be big on big. If you believe you have a top guy and I’m looked at as a top guy, we should be matched up against each other a fair amount of times, as you see happens with other teams. The Cardinals game, for instance, it was me and D-Hop matched up against each other a lot of the time. The first Seahawks game, it was that way – me and DK matched up across from each other a lot of the time. That’s what I would like to see, selfishly. I feel like that’s what the game should be, that’s what the fans would like to see.”

John Johnson said this week that the Seahawks were “hiding” Metcalf from Ramsey in Week 16, doing what they could to get him matched up against other corners or putting him in spots to find holes in the Rams’ zone coverage.

And for the most part, it worked; Ramsey only shadowed Metcalf on 66% of his routes compared to 71% in Week 10.

Ramsey wouldn’t say “hiding” is the right word, but Seattle’s game plan was clearly to move him around the formation and take advantage of matchups that the Rams presented.

“Their game plan was to do something differently, which was to clear the sea, but they were successful in doing that so it’s kind of like, who cares what they want or what the fans want? We’re out here to get wins and that’s what matters at the end of the day,” he said. “So I don’t know if I would say the right terminology is ‘hiding’ him. I don’t think that’s it, I don’t think DK Metcalf has to hide from anybody. But they felt it was in the best interest of their offense and their team to move him around in different areas so he could take advantage of opportunities potentially that he had and that helped their offense and helped their team get a win. You could say they were effective in doing that.”

While the Seahawks won the game 20-9, they weren’t exactly dominant on offense. They mustered 334 total yards and scored two touchdowns. Metcalf wasn’t a huge factor, either, catching six passes for only 59 yards.

The Rams don’t know exactly how Seattle will use Metcalf this time around, but Ramsey knows he and the rest of the defense have to be ready in case the Seahawks move their top wideout around again like they did in Week 16.

“Now we have to find a way to combat that,” Ramsey added. “That’s another challenge for us, that they do have a guy who’s able to move around and play on the outside or in the slot and different positions on offense and is being used to the best of his ability and best of his talent.”

Of course, if Ramsey isn’t covering Metcalf, that means he’s matching up with someone else – likely Tyler Lockett or David Moore. Whoever he has to cover, he’s ready to help the Rams win, no matter what the situation is.

“It’s the playoffs. I’m going to do whatever it takes, whatever the coaches think is the best for me to do this week for us to get a win and that is guarding whoever, doing whatever I have to do on Saturday to help this team get a win, no matter what it may be,” said Ramsey.

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Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner earns AP first-team All-Pro honors

For the sixth time in his career, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner has earned Associated Press’ first-team All-Pro honors.

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner is most certainly on his way to the Hall of Fame following his impressive career. On Friday, Wagner was voted to the Associated Press All-Pro first-team for the sixth time in his career.

Wagner has now been named to the first-team five years in a row and joins only 10 other linebackers in All-Pro history to have earned the honors six times. Those 10 players are all in the Hall of Fame today.

Wagner finished his 2020 NFL regular-season campaign with 138 tackles to lead the team, three sacks, eight passes defensed and 11 quarterback hits.

In addition to Wagner’s nod, Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf and safety Jamal Adams have both been named to the second-team All-Pro for their efforts this year.

According to AP’s Tim Booth, Seattle punter Michael Dickson and long snapper Tyler Ott finished third in the voting at their positions, just missing out on All-Pro selections.

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Thanks to Jalen Ramsey, DK Metcalf was a non-factor vs. Rams this season

Can Jalen Ramsey make it three straight dominant performances against DK Metcalf this Saturday?

Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf has put together a fantastic second season in the NFL. He finished the regular season with 83 catches for 1,303 yards and 10 touchdowns on 129 targets, earning his first career Pro Bowl selection.

Few teams did as good a job against the explosive wide receiver as the Rams did, however. In two games against Los Angeles, Metcalf caught just eight passes on 12 targets for 87 yards and no touchdowns. He was essentially a non-factor in both games, and there’s one main reason for that.

Jalen Ramsey.

Having a true shutdown corner like Ramsey makes life so much easier for the Rams when it comes to defending a guy like Metcalf. For most corners, Metcalf is either bigger, faster or stronger – or all of the above. It’s what makes him a matchup nightmare for opposing secondaries.

But Ramsey is a physical specimen himself, possessing a rare combination of length, speed and instincts at the cornerback position. That helped him all but eliminate Metcalf from the Seahawks’ game plan when matched up in man coverage against the receiver.

In two games, Ramsey allowed one catch for 11 yards against Metcalf on 53 coverage snaps. Metcalf was only targeted four times when Ramsey covered him one-on-one.

And when looking back at the play, Metcalf’s catch against Ramsey wasn’t exactly an impressive one. It was on third-and-10 with Ramsey playing off coverage, protecting the sticks. Metcalf broke inside on a drag route, with Ramsey trailing him in coverage and chasing him down to limit the gain to only 11 yards instead of 20-plus.

After Metcalf was locked down by Ramsey in the first meeting, catching only two passes for 28 yards in the game – neither of which came with Ramsey in coverage – the Seahawks got more creative in Round 2.

They moved Metcalf around more, sent him in motion a lot and did what they could to get him matched up against someone other than Ramsey. The Rams took notice of that strategy and on Tuesday, John Johnson said Ramsey wasn’t happy about Seattle hiding Metcalf from him.

“I don’t know exactly what they were trying to do, only thing I can tell you is I feel like they were just trying to hide him from Jalen,” Johnson told reporters. “That’s the best that I can say about it. But we adjusted to it. I think we still did a pretty solid job.

“I know one thing: No. 20 wasn’t too happy about it. He really looked forward to that matchup. He prepared for it. You don’t want to get him angry. So if that’s what they want to do, that’s what they want to do.”

Obviously, it hasn’t just been Metcalf that Ramsey has shadowed and erased. He’s done a remarkable job against opposing receivers all season long, ranging from DeAndre Hopkins to Mike Evans to Allen Robinson.

According to Pro Football Focus, Ramsey allowed just 20 yards per game in coverage.

If the Seahawks want to hide Metcalf from Ramsey again on Saturday afternoon, they can do that. But it’s pretty clear that no matter what strategy they use, Metcalf has struggled to find success against the Rams.

It’s what makes this defense so good, and it starts with having a chess piece like Ramsey in the secondary.

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