DK Metcalf, Seahawks Achieve Numerous Milestones in Monday Night Win Over Eagles
During the 2019 NFL Draft, eight receivers were selected before the Seahawks finally ended DK Metcalf's free fall by trading back into the second round to pick him at No. 64 overall. Every team had at least one opportunity to snag him prior to that point, including the Eagles, who made three selections in the first two rounds.
In his latest return to Philadelphia on Monday night, Metcalf made sure to remind the Eagles of what they missed out on with another dominant outing against them, producing a career-high 177 receiving yards in a 23-17 win.
"It's kinda like coming home," Metcalf smiled. "A place that had a chance to draft me, but they didn't, so I gotta make 'em pay."
While Metcalf shot down the notion that playing against the Eagles creates more motivation for him than the other seven teams who drafted receivers ahead of him, he sure seems to like playing at Lincoln Financial Field. Back in January, he torched Philly's secondary in the Wild Card round for an NFL rookie single-game playoff record 160 yards on just seven receptions, including a 53-yard touchdown.
Over his past eight quarters playing in Philadelphia, Metcalf has caught 17 passes for 337 yards and a touchdown. And as quarterback Russell Wilson astutely noted following Monday's game, the star receiver narrowly missed out on even bigger numbers after being unable to reel in a deep ball down the sidelines and a touchdown in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
"What's crazy is - the go ball - if that would have been caught, which he said he kinda stumbled or whatever it may be and the ball was maybe two inches too long, but that ball was probably an 80-yard touchdown right there," Wilson said. "Then also, there was the quick fly, which he normally would catch that one. But think about what he really would have done - he probably would have had 250, 260, 270, maybe almost 300 yards just off those two plays."
Despite those missed opportunities, by the time the game wrapped up, Metcalf had vaulted past Chiefs star Tyreek Hill into first place in the NFL for receiving yardage with 1,039 yards on the season. In the process, he became the fastest player in Seahawks history to reach the 1,000-yard mark, doing so in just 11 games.
"To God be the glory for everything," Metcalf remarked. "I actually prayed earlier today that he would do this for me and it came to pass, so just thank you to God, my teammates, the coaching staff, the whole o-line for blocking their butt off today."
While Metcalf was the obvious star of the night for Seattle, he wasn't the only player on the team who reached an impressive milestone in Monday's victory.
Needing only 13 yards entering the game to achieve the feat, Wilson joined legend Peyton Manning as only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 3,000 yards in each of his first nine seasons. He also tied his touchdown passes total from a year ago and will have a chance to obliterate his previous touchdown and passing yardage career highs with five games left to play.
On defense, illustrating his incredible consistency, productivity, and durability, linebacker Bobby Wagner hit the 100-tackle mark for the ninth straight season, joining London Fletcher and Keith Brooking as the only players since 2000 to reach that total nine or more consecutive seasons.
"We're looking at a Hall-of-Fame football player," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters in his post-game press conference. "We maybe don't realize how great a player he is and how hard it is to do what he's doing. He's an all-timer."
As the regular season winds down and the calendar turns to December, other notable milestones and team records are well within reach for several Seahawks.
Metcalf needs to average 50 receiving yards per game the rest of the way to break Hall of Famer Steve Largent's single-season franchise record of 1,287 receiving yards. He's also still in striking distance to tie Doug Baldwin's team record with 14 receiving touchdowns, but he will need to score a touchdown per game to do so.
Across from Metcalf, Lockett needs 251 receiving yards the rest of the way to pass Bobby Engram and move into the top five in Seahawks history for career receiving yardage. Two more receiving touchdowns would also slip him past Daryl Turner into the top five in franchise history.
As for Wilson, he needs only four more touchdown passes to pass ex-Seahawks great Dave Krieg to move into 18th all-time as he continues to climb the list. From a team record standpoint, he has an outside shot at passing John L. Williams to move into fifth all-time on the Seahawks career rushing yardage list as well.
But if you ask Wilson, Wagner, Metcalf, or any other Seahawk for that matter, the only record that truly matters is the win-loss column. After picking up a big win in Philadelphia and moving back to the top of the NFC West, the central focus will remain on two achievements: winning the division and capturing a Lombardi Trophy in February.
