Grubb on Seahawks’ DK Metcalf: ‘We are trying to get the big guy the ball. And we will’

Ryan Grubb began his week with one, top priority.

It wasn’t to dive into the game film to learn what went wrong for a Seahawks offense that allowed seven sacks, 12 hits on the quarterbacks, starter Geno Smith to leave injured and scored just one touchdown in a 17-point loss to the Green Bay Packers. He does that after every game.

Seattle’s first-year offensive coordinator and play caller needed to chat with DK Metcalf.

“This is probably the first time after the game, on the next day, I talked to him,” Grubb said.

Why? Because the night before Metcalf had just three targets for three catches for 28 yards against the Packers.

He caught a 15-yard pass from Smith on the Seahawks’ first offensive play of the game. He got just two balls his way over Seattle’s final 55 plays.

“That bothered me. It pissed me off that I couldn’t get him the ball,” Grubb said of the freakish, 6-foot-4, 235-pound wide receiver the team is paying $72 million over three seasons.

“A guy like that, gotta find ways to get him the football. It doesn’t matter if they are clouding (double-teaming Metcalf with a cornerback short and safety deep over the top), or what they’re doing.”

The Packers did what most Seahawks opponents have done this season. They bracketed Metcalf with a cornerback short and safety deep on almost every pass play.

The Green Bay game last weekend was Metcalf’s fewest targets and least productive day since week 7 of the 2022 season; he had one catch on two targets for 12 yards when running back Kenneth Walker went off in Seattle’s 37-23 win at the Los Angeles Chargers. That was under Seattle’s previous offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.

That last so-low game for Metcalf against the Chargers two years ago was a game he left with a knee injury. You have to go back to December 2019 for a game Metcalf finished and had so few targets and catches: one target, no catches playing 98% of snaps when Russell Wilson completed a season-low 16 passes in playoff-bound Seattle’s 27-13 home loss to the Cardinals.

“We are trying to get the big guy the ball,” Grubb said Thursday.

“And we will.”

Will Grubb fulfill that vow Sunday when the Seahawks try to keep their realistic chances of winning the NFC West alive against the soaring Minnesota Vikings (12-2)?

Can he?

That is one of the biggest games within this nearly must-win game for Seattle.

The Vikings blitz from everywhere. They have the most plays rushing five or more defenders in the NFL, 226 of their 885 defensive snaps. That’s 25.5% of the time they blitz. Yet Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores also does the opposite a lot. The Vikings are among the top five in the league in dropping eight defenders into coverage and only rushing three.

They are fourth in the league in sacks (42). They lead the NFL with 20 interceptions.

It’s a large reason the Vikings have won seven straight games, are 12-2 and one of the best teams in the league.

Yet precedent says there should be opportunities for Metcalf down the field against Minnesota. That is, if Smith playing on an injured knee can get the ball out in time.

The Vikings are 29th in the league in passing yards allowed per game (244.9).

“Whatever Coach Grubb calls, running it to the best of our abilities and making sure Geno makes the right read and gets upfield,” Metcalf said, “because they’re a big zone team.

“There are a lot of holes in their defense to where you’ve got to catch the ball and get upfield and get a lot of yards after catch.”

DK Metcalf’s been here before

Metcalf is in his sixth NFL season. He had just three catches for 29 yards in this season’s opener, Seattle’s win over Denver. He’s had four games in his career of 94 regular-season games and four in the playoffs were he’s had three or fewer targets.

He’s grown. He turned 27 last week. He’s gotten better dealing with these games. In the past he’s been ejected for fighting (at the end of a 2021 loss in Green Bay). He’s led the NFL in penalties. He’s been fined multiple times by the league, for unsportsmanlike acts of frustration.

This season he has 57 receptions through his 12 games (he missed two, Seattle’s loss to Buffalo Oct. 27 and loss to the Rams Nov. 3). That’s 28 catches behind second-year man Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the team lead. Metcalf’s targets per game this season with Grubb calling Seattle’s plays are actually up over 2023, the final season with Waldron. The Seahawks targeted Metcalf 7.4 times per game last season. They are doing it 7.8 times per game this season.

Smith has spent most of this season at the top of the NFL in passes attempted, as Seattle’s run game has stalled behind a poor offensive line and Walker’s four games missed due to injury.

So unfortunately for Metcalf — and many Seahawks fans — he is getting used to games he’s not the Seahawks’ focal point. This season, he’s been taking that out on smaller (which versus him is everybody) defensive backs. Two games ago when he wasn’t catching four passes on six targets for 49 yards in Seattle’s win at Arizona, Metcalf flattened Cardinals star safety Budda Baker on a block 19 yards down field to end a long run by teammate Zach Charbonnet. Charbonnet had a career day with 133 yards rushing in that 30-18 Seahawks win.

After that game two weeks ago The News Tribune asked Metcalf what he prioritizes doing when he’s not getting passes his way.

“Trying to block my ass off,” he said, “and trying to get pancakes on defensive backs.”

He calls the double coverage opponents keep giving him as “a sign of respect that I’ve gained from other defensive coordinators and just continue to do my job with it as blocking or being a decoy.”

“The ball is going to find me one play or another,” Metcalf said. “But if it doesn’t, at least we get the dub and that’s all that matters in this league is winning and to continue to win. And if you continue to win, you stay relevant. So no, I’m just honing on just continuing to do my job. If the stats don’t say so, then so be it. At least we get to win.”

Until they don’t. Green Bay’s win last weekend ended Seattle’s four-game winning streak, and it knocked the Seahawks out of the NFC West lead. The Rams (8-6) lead them on tiebreakers with three regular-season games remaining. The final one is Seahawks at Rams the first week of January.

Ryan Grubb on DK Metcalf

How does Grubb feel Metcalf is handling games when he’s not getting the ball much?

“Incredibly positive,” the play caller said.

“I mean, I know DK is a passionate player. But you talk to him after the game, the next day, he’s not — it doesn’t affect his performance or his preparation (for the next game) or how he operates in this building. He’s a pro, man. He cares about this football team.

“Certainly a player of his caliber, the ball doesn’t find him, it bleeds into the next week. ... Just haven’t seen that.”

Grubb acknowledges the balancing act he has each game. He is constantly trying to take advantage of the many opportunities all that attention on Metcalf creates for the emerging Smith-Njigba (sixth in the NFL with 994 receiving yards) and recently quiet Tyler Lockett (eight catches total the last five games) to make plays one on one versus knowing Metcalf needs to get the ball.

“No, that’s a great question,” Grubb said. “It’s a weekly balance, right?

“DK is a weapon, no matter what. I mean, that’s the thing that we’re lucky that he has such a positive (vibe). He’s a stud. You know, just the way he goes about it when he gets that much attention. And (it will) speed up other people to get the football.

“But at the same time, we’re always working changes. ...

“(It’s): How do I get this guy the ball?”