Seattle receiver DK Metcalf claimed he was just blocking when he leveled Los Angeles defensive back Ahkello Witherspoon on Sunday. The NFL didn’t buy it.
Metcalf was fined $10,927 for his cheap shot on Witherspoon, and then fined an additional $10,927 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Seahawks were down 27-13 late in the fourth quarter at the time, and Witherspoon was shaken up badly enough by the blindside hit that he had to leave the game. Metcalf is lucky the NFL didn’t suspend him; players who take cheap shots late in the fourth quarter of a game their team is trailing by two touchdowns are effectively saying they don’t care if they get ejected because the game is over anyway.
“I guess I blocked him a little too hard and pushed him to the ground and he got up mad because he felt like I blocked him in the back,” Metcalf said after the game. “But I mean, that’s just how I play. I block every play when I don’t have the ball and I’m never taking a play off or jogging, trying to take a play off. So that’s what transpired.”
If that’s how Metcalf plays, he can expect to face further league discipline.
