adminSeattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf might not have been trying to start anything with Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase when he spoke to the media on Thursday.
In fact, Metcalf was quite complimentary of Chase when reporters asked him what he appreciates about him. But before he finished his answer, he made sure to express confidence in his teammate, rookie CB Devon Witherspoon.
“Just the long ball that, I think, [Joe] Burrow threw to him. It was like a 70-yard bomb, just how effortlessly he caught the ball,” Metcalf said about a 63-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Burrow to Chase during the Bengals’ 34-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
“He’s just a great receiver. I tip my hat off to him with what he’s done the first three years in the league. “So it’ll be fun to watch Sunday, but I think ‘Spoon will get the best of him.”
That presumably would have been it, with one star wide receiver complimenting another, then praising a teammate, but Chase caught wind of the quote and reposted it on X, formerly Twitter.
This is a 24 second clip, he praised his game for 20 seconds and expressed confidence in his teammate for 4 seconds smh ♂️
— Edwin (@eortega06) October 12, 2023
A number of commenters said that Metcalf clearly wasn’t trying to create bulletin board material for the Bengals. till, star athletes are notoriously quick to hear disrespect and notoriously slow to let it go. A few hours later, Chase addressed the media and let bygones be bygones…sort of.
“He ain’t doing nothing but praising his teammate, though,” Chase said. “That’s what he supposed to do. At the end of the day, it’s about game-time reps and a game-time decision.
He’s going to get the opportunity to get his matchups and just see who wins the matchup.” Another reporter asked Chase what he thought of Witherspoon and fellow Seahawks corner Tariq Woolen.
“One is shorter, one is taller,” Chase said, referring to Witherspoon (6 feet) and Woolen (6-foot-4). “One is more handsy. One is not as handsy. They both play different roles. One is super fast, one is smooth, but they are both decent corners. They’re not horrible. The defense is good, so I give props.”
Even if there is a modicum of respect between Chase and Metcalf (and Witherspoon), Chase said he “loves” when an opponent talks trash.
“I expect people to talk trash to me,” Chase said. “If you don’t talk trash, you don’t like football. But I’m usually the one talking first, so I don’t think they have time to talk back.
Still, if there’s peace between Chase and the Seahawks, it’s an uneasy one. “Until [Witherspoon] says something, I’ll say something,” Chase said. “But it’s DK. I’m not checking DK, DK’s not checking me. He’s just saying what he want to say at the end of the day.”
“They’re just spicing up the game…making us have more energy coming into the game.”
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Ashleigh James
