Unfair Treatment: DK Metcalf ejected while opponent gets away with shove

The officials ejected the wrong San Francisco 49er late in the Seattle Seahawks loss in Week 14. DK Metcalf was going to be ejected for what happened no matter what. He was a leading actor in what caused a late-game fracas between the Seahawks and 49ers and Metcalf, simply put, has a bad reputation in NFL circles. If there is any doubt, a flag must be thrown on DK Metcalf, the thinking must go.

Late in the fourth quarter, Seattle quarterback heaved a pass down the field that was targeted toward Metcalf but the ball was well short of its intended target due to Lock's arm being hit as he threw. The ball was intercepted by 49ers linebacker Fred Warner and Metcalf went to tackle Warner and threw Warner to the ground while doing so.

The issue was that Warner no longer had the ball. He had lateraled the ball to a teammate. With the angle Metcalf had toward Warner, Metcalf probably could not see Warner lateral the ball. Warner, however, seemed to take issue with Metcalf slamming him to the ground and as Metcalf was still on the ground, Warner came up behind him and shoved him in the head. This is when the real fun began.

First of all, an NFL linebacker who is 6'3" and 230 pounds getting his feeling hurt about being thrown to the ground by a receiver is silly. Warner needed to simply move on. But then he retaliated and got away with it. Him shoving Metcalf in the back of the head setting off a chain of events where Metcalf would grab Warner's facemask and players from each team would meet in the middle of the field should have caused Warner to get ejected from the game as well. It didn't.

DK Metcalf had a right to be upset at Fred Warner in Week 14

DK Metcalf was upset about being head in the head, as he had a right to be, and he overreacted in front of the officials and he got a 15-yard penalty and was eventually ejected. So was 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir who pushed Metcalf when there was a meeting of the minds at midfield.

According to Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, Metcalf said after the game of the play, "If you want to call it frustration, yeah, it was frustration. But from my side, he hit me in the back of the head, so I just retaliated.

"In my mind, when I see a pick, I turn into a defensive player. Defensive players don’t get mad when they tackle me and suplex me like that. That’s what I was doing. I was making a tackle for my team."

And for the most part, isn't DK Metcalf correct? He made a hard tackle on Warner, Warner got mad and shoved Metcalf in the head. That is what led the events to come, not Metcalf's grabbing Warner's facemask.

But are the Seahawks a frustrated team? Yes. They should be. They have lost four in a row and appear nowhere at the level teams like the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys are and likely won't be in 2024, either. But what DK Metcalf did in Week 14 is understandable, though he should expect a hefty fine for what happened.

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