D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks.
Every week the Seattle Seahawks play, Pacific Northwest Sports will present our Dud and Stud of the game. It’s a way to pay tribute to those who played well and call out the players who didn’t.
It was an ugly start to Monday Night Football in Philadelphia. In the first half, the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles combined for four punts and two turnovers on downs.
Two Seahawks failures highlighted the first quarter. Seattle couldn’t get the job done on a pair of fourth down attempts. Both were in enemy territory, and one was at the Philadelphia two-yard line. Toward the end of the second quarter, the Seahawks got their act together and got on the scoreboard… twice.
Their first TD was on a fade to David Moore while the second came via a 16-yard run by Chris Carson. These were Seattle’s only two touchdowns for the game.
The second half was more of a quagmire than the first. Seattle had five possessions that resulted in three Jason Myers field goals and two Michael Dickson punts. Seattle’s defense played tough throughout the night. It wasn’t until late in the game when the Seahawks played more of a prevent defense, that Philadelphia moved the ball with some consistency.
Overall this wasn’t the greatest game played, not even close. It was a kickers night. Seattle and Philly’s punters combined to boot the ball away eight times, with six coming in the first half. Their placekickers combined for four field goals. Defensive line play from both sides dominated.
What matters is that the Seahawks won and regained first place in the NFC West. Here are our Dud and Stud of the Week.
Jordyn Brooks‘ pass interference penalty in the fourth quarter will be overlooked by many. A few plays later Carson Wentz threw an interception to Quandre Diggs in the endzone. Brooks should buy someone a cold on because that turnover saved his bacon.
Monday night tight end Dallas Goedert was Wentz’s go-to guy. He’s not an easy assignment. That still doesn’t excuse the penalty. All Brooks had to do was turn his head. Instead, he tried to run through Goedert and was penalized.
The Seattle Seahawks were dismal converting on third and fourth down. Their downfall started
Seattle got stuffed at the two-yard line in the first quarter. They did convert one third down on the same drive but from there the Seahawks went 1-for-11 on third and fourth down situations. That’s unacceptable. If Seattle was going to have a bad week, they picked a good opponent. It’s not like Philly had the offense to take advantage.
How many adjectives are there to describe just how bad the Seattle Seahawks offensive line was on Monday night. Philadelphia has a very good defensive front. The Eagles came after Wilson hard and got results. RW3 was sacked twice and knocked down seven more times. That doesn’t include him getting flushed from the pocket and getting hit after a gain.
The O-line didn’t have much success in the ground game either. They just couldn’t get a decent push against Philadelphia’s defensive front. As a result the Seahawks only managed 76 rushing yards on 30 attempts, which works out to 2.5-yards-per-carry.
As a matter of fact, there were plenty of instances where the Seahawks went backwards. They were tackled for loss an unbelievable 10 times by Philadelphia.
Shoutout to the Seattle Seahawks defensive line. The hog mollies had four of the team’s six sacks.
Let’s face it, without Myers and his three field goals, Seattle doesn’t win this game. The Seahawks struggled with consistency all night but their kicker was rock solid. Myers is 15-for-15- this season on field goal attempts. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t missed since November 3 of last year.
On a night when the Seattle Seahawks offensive line couldn’t open a hole for a mouse, Carson had a small amount of success. That was because he found a bit of daylight which he got through for a 16-yard touchdown run. The scoring play put his team up 14-0 with five-and-a-half minutes left in the first half.
This is getting redonkulous. D.K. Metcalf looks like a man among boys on the field. Darius Slay made the Pro Bowl in each of the last three years. Monday, Metcalf made Slay look like a rookie. It didn’t matter if it was a bomb down the seam or a short pass over the middle Slay couldn’t handle him.
Amazingly enough, Metcalf didn’t find the end zone for only the fourth time this season. But he did just about everything else. Metcalf’s stat line just jumps off the page in an otherwise mediocre offensive game. He finished with 10 receptions for 177 yards.
Next week the Seattle Seahawks host NFC leaders, the New York Giants at Lumen Field.