DK Metcalf's explosion fuels hope Seahawks can prove they belong

It's looking grim for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC playoff race following their thrilling defeat to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday.

Seattle is 6-6 and sits 2.5 games back of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC West and will fall out of the seventh seed if the Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

The Seahawks have now lost three in a row and their schedule does not get any easier, with a road game against the Niners next Sunday followed by a primetime meeting with the Philadelphia Eagles. However, their offensive performance in going down 41-35 to Dallas served to give Seattle hope they can hang with those powerhouses in the NFC, with the primary source of that hope being a long-awaited showcase from wide receiver DK Metcalf.

Metcalf's massive day

Metcalf had not produced a 100-yard performance since Week 3, but he exploded in stunning fashion in Dallas, racking up 134 yards and scoring three touchdowns in a game for the first time since Week 17 of the 2021 season.

Quarterback Geno Smith said of Metcalf:

"I thought DK was just playing the way he always is capable of. He's running so fast out there. I think he hit 22 miles per hour. Shoot man, he made a bunch of plays. He's such a mismatch out there. I just appreciate playing with him. I thought he had a phenomenal game. Everything about what he did today was awesome."

While there should be great consternation about Seattle's performance on defense, from an offensive perspective the Seahawks' display was the antithesis of what they produced in last week's 31-13 blowout at the hands of the 49ers.

In that game, Metcalf was held to just 32 yards on three catches from nine targets as an offense led by a banged-up Smith failed to get in the endzone.

However, with Smith now clearly healthy once more, the Seahawks' offense looks like one that can blow for blow with the NFC teams a level above them in the hierarchy.

Carroll's optimism

Head coach Pete Carroll is clearly hopeful the offensive performance against Dallas can be a catalyst for more competitive showings against the 49ers and Eagles.

Asked if the Seahawks can build on pushing the Cowboys close, Carroll told his press conference:

"There's no doubt. The performance last week was something I can't even explain to you. I can tell you what happened but I can't explain why that happened. For our guys to bounce back and play against a great football team at home, they've got this big win streak and all of that and they're legit as can be, right down to the end. There's no concession to losing, but we will definitely build on this. Because the execution, the come-through and toughness, and the physicality of it, because of the respect we have for them, all of those things are of course things we can build on."

He added: "There's all kinds of stuff that's going to happen. The story's not told, what's going to happen. We've got great chances again in the next couple of weeks against teams that are worthy of being on top of this thing at the end, and we're going to show the world we're worthy of being right there with them."

But games in which all three phases of the Seahawks' roster have excelled have been few and far between in recent weeks, and Metcalf knows they will need that to happen to have a hope of surprising either the Niners or Eagles.

"We played games where the offense has done well and the defense hasn't, (and ones where) the defense has had our back and the offense hasn't done so well," he said. 

"We just have to play a complete game as a team to where we're hitting on all phases. The offense is executing, the defense getting stops and special teams is running. So, once we do that I think we're going to be a great team."