Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf has been called for five penalties through two weeks, including a taunting penalty in the team’s season opener against the Indianapolis Colts.
Head coach Pete Carroll said Monday that Metcalf “needs to calm down a little bit” as he’s been a bit too wild during the first two weeks of the season.
On Wednesday, Metcalf agreed with that assessment and said he’s got to rein it in.
“He’s completely right,” Metcalf said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN.com. “I’m an emotional person. I play with a competitive edge and I’m not trying to lose anything whether that’s an argument or a route, anything. So I’m just going to compete my butt off ... get close to the line but don’t cross it.”
Metcalf was called for taunting after getting into a vocal back-and-forth with Colts linebacker Darius Leonard after a touchdown scored by Gerald Everett in Week One. Metcalf also had two holding penalties and an offensive pass interference called against him last week against the Tennessee Titans.
“I think (he) was trying really hard early and it was happening in both games where he’s really trying to set the tempo and try to find the competitive makeup of the game. He needs to calm down a little bit. He was trying a little too hard,” Carroll said. “But he was just really working hard, I mean really working hard and I mean, sometimes, you know, it goes too far. He had two holds on the perimeter screens and those are important plays to us. He was really mauling the guy who was blocking and just went too far.”
Metcalf said he believes opponents are trying to get under his skin a bit more this year and that he needs to not bite.
“For sure,” Metcalf said. “They can’t stop me any other way or stop Tyler [Lockett] any other way. So the best thing they can do is just try to talk stuff to me.”
