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The Seahawks’ defense, which was being gashed at a historic rate in the first half of the season, turned in its second consecutive strong performance. It forced three-and-outs on the Eagles’ first five possessions, sacked Carson Wentz six times, intercepted him once and held Philadelphia to nine points until a late Hail Mary. It marked only the second time this season that a team began a game with five straight three-and-outs, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
The Seahawks’ pass rush win rate of 62% Monday was their highest in a game this season. Their 22 sacks since Week 8 are three more than any other team has recorded in that span.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was kicking himself postgame for Seattle’s two failed attempts on fourth-and-2 early in the game, saying that he didn’t like how he handled the timing of those decisions. He was otherwise pleased with how Seattle didn’t commit a turnover on offense and continued its turnaround on defense.
“It was great to see our guys play like that and play consistently,” he said. “Again, like last week, a lot of corrections, a lot of things, fixes during the game, a lot of great communication. We’ve taken a real nice step forward, and I’m hoping we can just keep building on it.”
Metcalf sealed Seattle’s win by recovering the onside kick after Wentz’s Hail Mary touchdown to Richard Rodgers.
Metcalf has a league-leading 1,039 receiving yards through 11 games. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, that makes him the fastest player in Seahawks history to top 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He also has the fifth-most yards by a first- or second-year player through 11 games in the past 30 seasons. With 1,939 career receiving yards, Metcalf is 88 away from passing Joey Galloway for the most through two seasons in franchise history.
Metcalf accounted for 77% of the Seahawks’ 230 receiving yards Monday, the third-highest such percentage in the past five seasons. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Metcalf lined up against Slay on 26 of his 27 routes. When Slay was the nearest defender, Metcalf caught seven of 10 targets for 141 yards. The 141 yards are the second most by a receiver against a single defender this season.
Slay said he might have played the worst game of his career Monday.
The Eagles were one of eight teams to select a wide receiver in last year’s draft before Seattle chose Metcalf with the final pick of the second round. Metcalf found another source of motivation Monday, when Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz approached him and said, according to Metcalf, “I was in Detroit with Megatron, but you’re not there yet.”
“In my mind, I’m not trying to be Megatron,” Metcalf said. “I’m trying to be me. So I had a little chip on my shoulder the whole game.”
Schwartz’s side of the story was that he was complimenting Metcalf by saying that Metcalf is the closest thing Schwartz has seen to Calvin Johnson.
“He poked the bear, and then Slay had to go out there and end up having to deal with that bear,” said Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs, who was teammates with Slay in Detroit. “So, hey, Slay needs to blame his D-coordinator for that.”
Carroll compared the motivation Metcalf drew from the comment to the way Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan used to respond to a perceived slight.
“Michael always found a reason,” Carroll told 710 ESPN Seattle on Tuesday. “Guys that have that mentality are always on the alert for — give me something to juice me up and let me at you. So that was a classic example of that.”
Seahawks All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner finished with five tackles to push him past 100 for the ninth time in as many NFL seasons. According to research by ESPN Stats & Info, Wagner is tied with Keith Brooking for the second-most consecutive seasons with 100 tackles in the past 20 years. London Fletcher has the most, with 13.
“We’re looking at a Hall of Fame football player,” Carroll said of Wagner. “We’re so accustomed to the way he plays and [these] tremendously consistent numbers he continues to add up, and we maybe don’t realize how great a player he is and how hard it is to do what he’s doing. That’s just an all-timer. … Shoot, we’ve got five games left to play, so he’s going to have a ton this year.”
New York Jets coach Adam Gase, who presides over the worst offense in the NFL, doesn’t want to say who’s calling the plays because he believes it puts his team at “a competitive disadvantage.”
Gase wants to keep opponents guessing, the same opponents who have held the Jets to a league-low 14 points per game.
“It’s a collaborative effort,” Gase said Monday, one day after insisting offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains has been calling the majority of the plays in recent weeks even though visual evidence indicated otherwise on Sunday.
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This shouldn’t be a big deal, but everything gets blown up with an 0-11 team that struggles to score points. It has turned into a shell game, with observers trying to figure out who is calling plays on the sideline. It’s almost laughable, as the Jets are ranked last in several offensive categories.
In Week 7, Gase — the playcaller through most of his coaching career — announced he was handing the job to Loggains. Two weeks ago, Gase was actively involved in the process, but he claimed he simply was relaying Loggains’ calls to the quarterback.
Before Sunday’s 20-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that Gase would return to being the primary playcaller. That appeared to be the case during the game, as Gase held the play sheet and communicated with quarterback Sam Darnold. Meanwhile, Loggains was off to the side, holding a small piece of paper and occasionally chatting with other assistants as plays were called. Afterward, Gase explained that, yes, he did call some plays, but only in specific situations — namely third downs and two-minute offense.
On Monday, Gase didn’t want to get into specifics, explaining why he considers it sensitive information. He said opposing coaches can figure out the play based on which coach is making the call.
“For us, to say like who’s calling what, when, what situation and those things, it’s a competitive disadvantage, really, at the end of the day,” he said.
“You don’t want [opponents] to know, is this guy calling runs? Is he calling passes? Is he calling play-actions? Is he calling empties? Is he calling dropbacks? Who has third down and who has red zone? We’d like to do it without having to make it public knowledge.
“The last three weeks, it’s been a collaborative effort throughout the game.”
INDIANAPOLIS — Colts starting left tackle Anthony Castonzo left Sunday’s 45-26 loss to the Tennessee Titans early in the second quarter with a knee injury.
“I don’t think it’s the worst-case scenario,” Colts coach Frank Reich said after the game when asked about Castonzo’s injury.
It’s uncertain when Castonzo was injured because he completed the previous series without needing help from the training staff on the field.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts have signed defensive lineman Grover Stewart to a contract extension, the team announced Saturday.
The extension is a three-year, $30.75 million deal, a source confirmed.
Stewart, who was picked in the fourth round of the 2017 draft out of Albany State (Georgia), was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
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Stewart has seen his playing time increase in each of the past two seasons. He started 13 games last season and has started all 10 games this season.
Stewart, who lines up alongside of DeForest Buckner on the interior part of the defensive line, has 36 tackles for the NFL’s second-ranked defense.
One of the keys to Stewart’s success this season has been his continued weight loss. He’s gone from entering the NFL at nearly 350 pounds to getting down to around 310 pounds.
“I felt that if I lost weight that I could move quicker and still have my strength,” Stewart said. “I always want to move like a little guy … always consider myself small, so losing weight was a big thing for me. I gained muscle and dropped a lot of fat, so I really helped myself out in the long run.”