In a joint celebration of 50 seasons for both franchises, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks staged an instant classic.
Dressed in their Sunday bests, the two 3-1 teams traded blows with their rejuvenated signal callers, but it was Tampa that made the critical defensive stop when legend Lavonte David collected a key interception and set Chase McLaughlin up for the game-winner in a 38-35 nailbiter.
The unbreakable Bucs again withstood special teams miscues and failed defensive turnover opportunities,
and the battered offense again saw Baker Mayfield go supernova and strengthen his MVP campaign with a practically perfect performance.
At 4-1 and tied atop the NFC standings, the Bucs earned a victory that provides much-needed cushion during this challenging stretch. Let’s do some shoutouts before the team prepares for another hefty challenge against the 49ers next Sunday.
Offensive Top Performer: QB Baker Mayfield
It’s getting harder and harder out there for the Mayfield haters and doubters.
In four wins, Mayfield has four 4th-quarter comebacks — the most in the league, obviously. He entered Sunday night tied with Lamar Jackson for the best touchdown/interception ratio in the league at 10-to-1, and Mayfield became the first player in NFL history to throw for more than 375 yards and fewer than 5 incompletions in a single regular-season game.
He was unflappable all day long, completing 29-of-33 passes for 379 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no turnovers — his 87.9% completion percentage marked the highest of any quarterback this season. Since 2023, Mayfield has logged three games of 350+ yards and 2+ touchdowns in a game, which is tied for the most with Jared Goff and Joe Burrow.
When you can just keep going with all of these awesome stats and factoids, that’s usually a great sign. The Bucs have a top-10 quarterback in football right now who wins games when it gets tough, and that’s a cathartic feeling.
On the receiving end, Emeka Egbuka continued to serve as Mayfield’s trusted No. 1 wideout, which is absolutely bonkers considering he turns 23 in less than two weeks and just played his fifth career game. Seattle injuries or not, Egbuka continued his lightning-quick ascension into a bonafide stud.
The Washington native buried Seattle’s secondary all day long in his homecoming, leading all players with 7 catches for 163 yards and 1 touchdown. Against Josh Jobe, one of the more underrated corners this year, Egbuka skewered him for 81 yards — a career-worst for Jobe against a single opponent per Next Gen Stats. Egbuka is the first player in NFL history with 25+ receptions, 400+ receiving yards, and 5+ receiving touchdowns through his first five career games, and he easily surpassed Michael Clayton’s 301 yards for most to begin a career in Bucs history.
Like Mayfield, you could just keep going on and on. The Bucs may have the makings of something special with this duo — and Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are still here!
We have to quickly address a few other guys who proved pivotal in the win.
With Bucky Irving sidelined, Rachaad White re-assumed RB1 duties and performed excellently with 71 total yards (41 rushing, 30 receiving) and 2 touchdowns, including several key pass-blocking reps and the game-icing first-down run. It’s a luxury to have someone so productive ready to go when a dynamic joystick like Irving goes out.
Cade Otton has eschewed his role in the passing game to be a needed blocker this year, but Washington Huskie finally got a chance to shine with 4 catches for 81 yards. Rookie Tez Johnson logged the best game of his young career, catching 4 passes for 59 yards and carrying the ball once for 2 yards, and wily vet Sterling Shepard caught the game-tying touchdown pass with just a minute remaining to continue his productive stint.
Defensive Top Performer: LB Lavonte David
Alright, I used all my words on the offense because the defense largely sucked. Let’s just call it what it was: a spanking.
Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak and QB Sam Darnold put Todd Bowles’ and Co. in a blender the entire second half, and missing several turnover opportunities only intensified the worst defensive performance of the season.
However, one man made the biggest play when it mattered most, and it was fittingly David — who now leads all active linebackers in career interceptions with 14. It not only served as arguably THE key play of the game, but it also gave David some redemption after an ugly missed tackle that led to a Seattle score earlier in the contest. He finished with 9 total tackles to co-lead the team as well, so overall a gutsy performance for the 35-year-old.
It’s hard to find too many other silver linings. Tykee Smith played fairly well, logging some strong run stops and a fumble recovery but he also played a role in allowing a Seattle touchdown. Antoine Winfield Jr. should’ve snagged an interception but had it negated by a questionable penalty, but he also allowed a massive 53-yard reception to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, who was right there with fellow Ohio State product Egbuka in terms of production with an 8-132-1 stat line.
The pass rush was completely non-existent, logging no sacks and making life pretty easy for Darnold and Co. A burn-the-tape game for sure.
Special Teams Top Performer: K Chase McLaughlin
We were all worried about McLaughlin for a hot second…that was pretty silly.
Since missing three kicks in the first two weeks, McLaughlin has gone 11-for-12 since then on field goals (and the miss was the Jets block that wasn’t at all his fault), including three game-winners and the longest outdoor make in NFL history (65 yards).
So yeah, back to regularly scheduled programming for one of the Bucs’ all-time best kickers, and they’ve needed him plenty so far.
Riley Dixon also found some redemption after what can only be described as a train wreck to begin the season. He punted only twice, but one got them deep out of their own territory and the other landed perfectly inside the 5 to be downed at the 1 — both of those resulted in scores, tragically, but that’s not his fault.
Hopefully the changes made by the entire unit persist through the rest of the year.
