Don't worry, Seattle Seahawks fans.

Despite going nearly a month in between game action because of an injury, DK Metcalf's knee is doing just fine after two games back.

"I would not step on the field if I couldn't be myself," the wide receiver told Bleacher Report. "So everything is smooth, and the knee held up very well."

While Metcalf didn't completely take over his two games since returning with 70 yards against the San Francisco 49ers and 59 yards against the Arizona Cardinals, the end result was two victories. And that is a very different end result than the team's two straight losses against the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams when he was sidelined.

At least the timing of the injury could have been far worse, as the Week 10 bye meant he missed just two games in between the Oct. 20 win over the Atlanta Falcons and Nov. 17 win over the 49ers.

His temporary absence also meant more opportunities for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, which figures to pay dividends as the season progresses.

While Metcalf is the two-time Pro Bowler with three seasons of more than 1,000 receiving yards and two seasons of double-digit touchdown catches, Geno Smith and the Seahawks now have another go-to option playing alongside him.

Smith-Njigba was a 2023 first-round draft pick and showed flashes of his potential as a rookie, but his second season is turning into a breakout one. He already has more catches (66) and receiving yards (755) in 11 games than he did last year, and he posted 180 yards and two touchdowns against the Rams when Metcalf was out.

"He's been a star since the day he was drafted in the league," Metcalf said of his fellow wide receiver. "It was just a matter of time before his star started to shine in the league like it did in college."

That star continued shining even upon his teammate's return, as Smith-Njigba put up 110 yards against the 49ers and 77 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's critical NFC West win over the Cardinals.

Seattle will need that type of production in the rematch in Arizona on Dec. 8 in a game that will be important for Metcalf beyond just the divisional implications.

He will participate in the NFL's My Cause My Cleats initiative that has allowed players to support personal causes and philanthropy since 2016 with custom-designed cleats. The receiver will support two causes—Prison Fellowship and Sound—with his custom cleats for that Dec. 8 game.

"I chose Prison Fellowship because I was in church one day and the pastor was talking about prisoners and how they don't have a second chance in life," Metcalf said. "Just taking it upon myself to shed light on the situation and try to give more prisoners a second chance at having their life saved or a second chance at life in general because they feel forgotten at times."

Prison Fellowship attempts to "restore America's criminal justice system and those it affects" and will "advocate for justice reform and activate grassroots networks to do the same." It features in-prison programs as well as mentorship and help upon reentry into society for people when they are released from prison.

As for Sound, it is "one of King County's most comprehensive providers of quality mental health and addiction treatment services, supporting our area's most vulnerable populations."

That it is a local organization was important for Metcalf, who has been in Seattle since the Seahawks selected him in the 2019 NFL draft.

"The organization Sound, I recently learned ASL, and I wanted to bring more light on the deaf community, mainly here in Seattle which is basically my second home," he said. "It made sense, and they also have a variety of other causes that they support."

This year's My Cause My Cleats initiative will be a little different as well because players such as Metcalf, Josh Allen and Maxx Crosby were able to design the cleats themselves with help from AWS' generative AI tool that allowed them to personalize the style, color and textures before they were then hand painted by the artists.

"In the past I left it up to the artists to design the cleat, but this year with gen AI it allowed me and both organizations to type in keywords that meant something special," Metcalf said. "And then the gen AI came up with the design for the cleat. It basically let us choose the colors or how we wanted the design to look with whether it was bigger or smaller and whatever words we wanted to put on the cleat.

"So the cleat is going to be very bright just to draw eyes to it and make people look and wonder what organization I'm supporting. And the hope is the words on the cleat bring light to make people want to look more into the organizations."

He also likes the way they will look on the field as the team chases a postseason spot because "anything looks good with Seahawks colors."

Landing that postseason spot will require more overall consistency from the team, as Seattle started 3-0 and appeared well on its way to being a force in the NFC before losing three in a row and five of its next six.

It was suddenly 4-5 after that stretch, which made the recent two-game bounce back against divisional opponents upon the receiver's return all the more important.

The Seahawks are in a better place at 6-5 with the dynamic duo of Metcalf and Smith-Njigba now back on the field and playing together. They are also reshifting their focus heading into the stretch run to avoid the dramatic swings that defined the start of the season.

"We're just taking it one week at a time and keeping our focus very narrow right now," Metcalf said. "And that's just focused on the next opponent and trying to beat them before moving on to the next week."

It may sound cliche, but it has worked since his return.

And consistency hasn't been as much of an issue when he is on the field, as Seattle is 6-3 with Metcalf in the lineup. Beyond his own individual production, he opens things up for Smith-Njigba, Tyler Lockett, Kenneth Walker III and others because of the double teams and additional attention he draws, which allows Smith to spread the ball around to all the weapons.

That formula has landed Seattle in a tie for first place in the NFC West with the Cardinals.

Yet they are just one game ahead of the 5-6 Rams and 49ers in the tightest division race from top to bottom in the NFL. Nobody has a better mark than 2-1 in intra-division games, meaning the tiebreakers are very much still up for grabs.

Seattle missed the playoffs last season but has the opportunity to avoid that fate in the next six weeks, especially with remaining games against the Cardinals and Rams.

So what needs to happen for the rest of the season to be considered a success?

"We make it to the playoffs and from there take it one game at a time," Metcalf said. "Like I said, we've got to take it one week at a time for us to make it to the playoffs."

Sometimes the simplest approach is the best one.