Nothing like ruining a great celebration by having a last-minute misfire in a shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-35 at Lumen Field. This was supposed to be a party, with the 50th Season celebration game
in front of Seahawks Legends of the past. Seattle was even donning the fan-favorite throwback jerseys for the occasion.
It looked like the Seattle Seahawks would pull it out and give everyone something to cheer about.
Up until the last drive of the first half, Seattle was tripping over themselves. They righted the ship, however, and had consecutive scoring drives to close the first half and open the second to go ahead 14-13. Then, the rest of the game was a whirlwind of ties and lead changes with almost no defense being played. The Seahawks went for it on 4th and 2, and Sam Darnold found Tory Horton to put Seattle up 35-28 with 3:18 remaining. That should’ve been enough to feel confident, but the Seahawks “defense” wasn’t up to the task all day, giving up a touchdown drive in two minutes. Seattle’s offense had one more shot, but Darnold’s pass deflected off a helmet for an interception, setting Tampa Bay up in field goal range. That was all she wrote, with the Buccaneers winning on a walk-off field goal by Chase McLaughlin.
Seahawks Droppings
- If you want to know the bottom line of why the Seahawks lost today: Tampa Bay had 10 drives and only punted twice, with another drive consisting of only the kick return to end the first half. That’s seven scoring drives given up by the Seahawks defense, supposedly the strength of the team. Head coach Mike Macdonald put the blame squarely on himself postgame, as he should.
I would call out how bad the defense was at defending over the middle, but that would assume that there were defenders in the middle of the field. How many times were there wide open Buccaneer receivers running across the middle with no resistance? It was just a godawful, putrid performance by the Seahawks defense today.
- I get it, the secondary was hurting with Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon sitting out this game. Add in Tariq Woolen who was concussed and was on the sidelines. That doesn’t excuse Emeka Egbuka getting loose for a 57-yard reception on third and long. He had 163 yards receiving today with most of that coming in the second half. Baker Mayfield is a very good quarterback, yet any time you give up 379 yards passing there’s something wrong.
- You thought I was done with the defense? Think again. Seattle got one sack today and that came because of a blitz. Mayfield had all day today and got free up the middle for scrambles a few times. Tampa Bay’s offensive line was beaten up and still the Seahawks couldn’t get any traction.
- Ok, time to take a deep breath. There were actually some positives today. Sam Darnold is playing like a top five QB. He’s somehow getting better every week and almost single-handedly kept Seattle in this game. That deflection INT at the end was a fluke, and I truly believe had that not happened, we would be talking about a Seahawks victory. Seattle might have found their franchise QB for the next 5-8 years.
- Seattle has a damn good WR1 and TE1. Jaxon Smith-Njigba continues to produce every single week and is making explosive catches down the field. He gets open, makes contested catches, and can get solid YAC. There’s nothing he can’t do. And then we’ve got AJ Barner. All this dude does is catch TDs and act as a security blanket for Darnold. He’s like our new Zach Miller.
- I thought Kenneth Walker III had another great game today. His stat line, 10 carries for 86 yards, doesn’t seem that impressive, but he was quick and decisive in hitting the hole and getting positive yardage. Charbonnet was solid and got a TD, but it’s Walker who should scare opposing teams.
- Jason Myers missed another field goal. What else is new? A few of his extra points were adventures as well. It’s not like those three points would’ve come in handy at the end of the game or anything. Thankfully, the kick return crew was fantastic. Dareke Young has found himself a job as the kick returner.
- Seattle lost at home again. Seattle lost the turnover battle again. I thought I was done ragging on the defense, but I guess not. I can’t remember a single play where I felt like the Seahawks had a chance of getting a turnover. Seattle and the Green Bay Packers are the only two teams who have yet to force or recover a fumble.
This was an exciting game to watch for fans of offense. Unfortunately, I like it when my team plays defense and the Seahawks did nothing of the sort today. It doesn’t give me a ton of confidence when Seattle gets shredded by a team missing their starting RB and whose best WR is a rookie. This losing at home thing is getting irritating too. The 12s were out in full force today and you could hear how deafening it was on the broadcast. Mike Macdonald and the rest of the team needs to figure out how to get that home field advantage back.
