D.K. Metcalf Shocking Admission on Seahawks ‘Lack of Effort’

"I really can’t speak for everybody else, but my part was just effort," DK Metcalf says of the Seahawks’ Week 1 problem. “And play after play, just 100-percent effort, it wasn’t just there like it’s been in the past.”

On the one hand, this level of self-awareness and acceptance responsibility is as refreshing as it is revealing.

On the other hand, Seattle Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf’s analysis of his team’s failure to defeat the Los Angeles Rams in the Week 1 home-opener at Lumen Field is shocking in multiple ways.

"I really can’t speak for everybody else, but my part was just effort," Metcalf said via the Seattle Times. "And play after play, just 100-percent effort, it wasn’t just there like it’s been in the past.”

Wow. Really? This registers as a stunner both because it is such an unvarnished concession and also such a sad indictment of how the favored Seahawks allowed themselves to be upset, 30-13.

Metcalf, for his part, had three receptions for 47 yards and one touchdown in the division rival matchup. … but he also lost his temper in a way that caused coach Pete Carroll to address that problem in a public forum.

"DK and I talked for a long time … about [how] that's not what we can allow to happen because that means that they can control him and get after him," Carroll said on his Sports 710-AM radio show. "It’s a challenge. This is nothing new. DK's been an emotional, feisty, fiery player since the day he got here, and that is who he is. But he has to also manage that so they don't take advantage of it."

Seattle moves on to the Week 2 matchup at the Detroit Lions, 1-0 and wearing “culture-changing” ski masks after their opening-week upset win at Kansas City. A “lack of effort” from anybody on the Seahawks roster - Pro Bowler or not - simply will not do.

“I know that’s one thing I’ve got to clean up,” Metcalf said, adding. “And just playing as a team.

"When something goes wrong or adversity hits, we just can’t start pointing fingers or just looking around for somebody else to make a play,” he said. “Can’t look for the coaches. … I think it’s just an inward experience, a lack of preparation on my part. Just got to do a better job preparing during the week and knowing my job.”