Yell at Shannon Sharpe all you want D.K. Metcalf, we all saw you, we all know what you did

Expertise is not required to spot an obvious mistake. I’m not a sous chef, but I know when my salmon is overcooked. I’m not a singer, but I know when an artist hits a flat note when singing the national anthem. I’m also not a professional football player, but I know what Seattle Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf’s fumble near the end of the regulation against the Pittsburgh Steelers was — a brain fart.

Still, it’s nice to have the exact same opinion as an expert in the field, and Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe shares mine. He tweeted a simple observation: “What was D.K. thinking? Why try to play hero *football emoji* in that situation.”

Metcalf saw the tweet in the morning and reacted as he might to @SteelerPittPanther787. He quote tweeted him “Stop questioning me, lil boy *crying laughing emoji.*

Sharpe didn’t take too kindly to this and responded with the first words that would come to anyone’s mind, it was a “DUMB ASS play.” Sharpe also told Metcalf to “PRAY” that he one day has a similar Hall of Fame resume. Metcalf responded, “From the looks of it, I can wipe my *poop emoji* with yours.

Quick recap for those who didn’t stick around for the end of a Steelers-Seahawks Sunday night matchup with no Russell Wilson and a washed Ben Roethlisberger, that began with six consecutive punts, or forgot to put it back on your main screen after the Succession season premiere (poor Shiv).

The Seahawks had the ball at the Steelers’ 35-yard-line and wanted to get a few more yards, but had to be careful because they had no timeouts. They executed a perfect play. Metcalf hauled in a pass from backup quarterback Geno Smith for a 12-yard-gain, right up against the sideline. The play could not have gone any better, and all Metcalf had to do was take one step out of bounds to set up the game-tying field goal.

Instead, Metcalf saw maybe three yards of daylight and decided to run directly into Steelers cornerback James Pierre, who peanut-punched the ball. Seahawks receiver Freddie Swain then dove on the ball and made possibly the most heads-up play of the season. He leaped to his feet as if he just did an updown and the Seahawks were able to stop the clock. Then all that effort wasn’t even necessary, because the booth called for a review on whether the play was an incomplete pass or a fumble, which stopped the clock.

Clearly, Metcalf is lashing out. There is no dispute that on that play — it appeared he didn’t spend enough virtual currency on his awareness rating. Even if he ran Pierre over from a dead stop after catching a football, what next? Would he have been able to do it without breaking stride so safety Tre Norwood wouldn’t have caught him from behind and, you know, ended the game with a tackle?

Everyone overcooks the salmon or misses a note once in a while. There’s no shame in it. Be happy that you work in a job that has to account for human error and can’t be done by a robot. Just admit the mistake D.K. I’m sure your teammates and coaches are going to tease you about it in the film room if they haven’t already.

But if you aren’t going to be an adult and own your mistake, I guess the next best thing is to throw poop emojis at Shannon Sharpe.

Until you finally come around.