Brady Henderson, ESPN
RENTON, Wash. — In week responses to questions on his ongoing penalty defect, Seahawks broad receiver DK Metcalf has expressed contrition presen vowing to be higher.
He struck a far other pitch Wednesday.
A defiant and defensive Metcalf challenged the scrutiny he has gained within the wake of his original 15-yard infraction, together with some that got here from his personal head trainer, Pete Carroll.
“I’m not going to change the way I play,” Metcalf stated.
The topic used to be raised anew next Metcalf used to be flagged for useless roughness within the Seahawks’ 17-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. It used to be his 5th penalty of the season (together with one offsetting), which is attach with Seahawks secure Phil Haynes for fifteenth maximum amongst all avid gamers and tops amongst receivers.
A couple of mins previous, when requested about Metcalf’s consequences, Carroll informed journalists that he introduced up the problem in a crew assembly on Monday to underscore the usefulness of changing it.
“We put all the penalties on the board in Monday’s meetings and the guys who had the most were on the top, and he was up there with another guy,” Carroll stated. “We all have to acknowledge it and recognize what our issues are, whatever they are. It happens to be in this case he’s getting called.
“He is aware of. He’s were given to wash it up. We need to create certain we’re conscious about how they’re calling stuff. He’s an overly competitive participant, very bodily and it sticks out and he attracts consideration as a result of that. So we’ve were given to be cleaner. He is aware of it and he’s were given to get it completed.”
Asked about Carroll’s message in the team meeting, Metcalf downplayed the issue, saying, “It used to be only a board to me.”
“If you happen to have a look at the consequences, it used to be a taunting, useless roughness, face masks, preserving and I feel it used to be yet one more in there,” he said, referring to an illegal blindside block. “So I’m doing nice-looking just right if I have a look at it and pass judgement on myself, how I play games. I simply effort to be constant and feature blank arms or regardless of the case could also be, however I’m no longer going to modify who I’m as a participant or an individual.”
With at least 900 yards in each of his first four NFL seasons and a team-high 337 through five games this year, Metcalf, who has been playing through a rib injury since Week 2, is off to one of the most prolific starts of any receiver in franchise history. But penalties have dogged him. He has been flagged 10 times for either taunting, unsportsmanlike conduct, unnecessary roughness or disqualification, the most in the NFL since he made his debut in 2019. His 28 total penalties in that span are five more than any other receiver.
Asked whether some of those penalties have been a case of letting his emotions get the better of him, Metcalf asked the media member who posed the question whether he has ever had a bad day at work.
“All proper, in order that’s all I’ll nail it right down to,” he said. “No person’s highest. I’m my very own particular person, like I simply stated. I’m a aggressive particular person, so I’m no longer getting to pull away as a result of he put a penalty board at the display screen. I’m simply getting to proceed to be me.”
Carroll drew a distinction between Metcalf’s penalty against the Bengals and others he has committed when losing his cool in the heat of the moment, saying this one was partly the result of the receiver not knowing the play was over.
In the second quarter, Metcalf was blocking more than 30 yards downfield after Geno Smith dumped off to operating again Zach Charbonnet for a 4-yard gain. The flag came when Metcalf shoved cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt to the ground after the play had been whistled dead.
Metcalf told Carroll he couldn’t hear the official’s whistle because he was so far away. Carroll bought the explanation and said Metcalf’s aggressiveness is part of what makes him a successful receiver, but he put the onus on Metcalf to tone it down in situations where it could hurt the team.
“It’s a competitiveness that’s particular in guys, however it’s a must to channel it correctly and that incorporates revel in, and every so often it comes with the ache of it,” Carroll said of Metcalf. “So the principle factor is that we’re addressing it and we’re on it and he is aware of it and he needs to get it proper. He doesn’t wish to harm our crew by means of making consequences, however he’s no longer the one one. We’ve were given to do manner higher within the penalty area.”
The Seahawks have committed 49 total penalties this season, which is tied for sixth most even though they’ve played only five games. Their 39 accepted penalties are tied for 10th most.
Regarding his penalty problem, Metcalf said in 2021 that he needed to do a better job of not letting defenders get under his skin. Later that season, after he was ejected for a scuffle late in a loss to the Green Bay Packers, he said he had to “develop up,” given his rising profile as a team leader.
In the season opener, Metcalf was flagged for taunting as he exchanged words with the Los Angeles Rams’ bench, which was upset at how he shoved cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to the ground at the end of the previous play. The hit and the penalty led to a pair of fines from the league office as well as another sit-down with Carroll. Metcalf again acknowledged afterward that he’s “were given to be higher.”
His comments on Wednesday lacked any of those past sentiments.
“I’m simply getting to loose that as much as everyone else,” Metcalf said when asked if he feels like he has made progress in the penalty department. “I don’t really feel like I used to be a defect or I had to create proceed in a undeniable department. Soccer is a violent recreation, and it’s my one alternative to be violent, on sport year. So I’m simply getting to proceed to do this.”
Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner, a longtime team captain and a mentor to Metcalf early in his career, said the receiver needs to remember that officials are keeping an extra close eye on him.
“I’m nice-looking certain the groups which can be enjoying him are pointing that out pregame — ‘Good day, monitor 14, monitor 14,'” Wagner said. “On occasion you’ve were given to remind him that while you i’m ready that form of precedent, it takes a presen for that to move away. In order that’s the most important factor is solely figuring out that they’re looking at him, they aren’t getting to let him escape with stuff that possibly alternative guys escape with, and take into account of it.”
Metcalf was asked how much his reputation precedes him with officials.
“Each and every day ahead of a sport, it’s at all times, ‘Good day, let’s effort to play games a blank sport nowadays,'” he said. “I’m like, ‘Sure, sir. Just right success doing that. Let’s effort to create the entire proper yells as neatly.’ No person’s highest. So simply proceed to place it in the back of me and proceed to play games soccer.”
