Game in Review: Seahawks 27, Buccaneers 24 (OT)

By Danny O’Neil

The largest comeback in Seahawks history came with an asterisk on Sunday.

It came against a winless Tampa Bay team that was starting a rookie quarterback in Mike Glennon.

And those Buccaneers gave Seattle all it could handle, scoring the first 21 points of the game, taking advantage of three Seahawks turnovers and rushing for more than 200 yards.

And yet Seattle rallied with two second-half touchdowns, tying the game on Doug Baldwin’s 10-yard touchdown catch from Russell Wilson with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter. Seattle forced Tampa Bay to punt away its final possession of regulation with 25 seconds left and forced the Bucs to kick it away after Tampa Bay began overtime with the ball.

Seattle drove 51 yards on its first and only possession of the extra period, winning on Steven Hauschka’s 27-yard field goal.

Wilson is 3-0 in overtime games as the Seahawks’ quarterback.

The significance: Seattle won its 12th consecutive home game, matching the franchise record set from 2004 to 2006.

Play of the game: Golden Tate ran back a third-quarter punt 71 yards, fielding at his own 4 and returning it to the Bucs’ 25 in the final 2 minutes of the third quarter to set up a Seahawks field goal.

Turning point: Doug Baldwin’s 19-yard catch on the sidelines was not only incredible &ndahs; as he got his toes down on the sidelines – it was incredibly important. The Seahawks scored on the next play, Wilson running it in from 10 yards out. Tampa Bay never scored again.

Player of the game: Wilson completed 14 of the 17 passes he attempted in the second half for 174 yards and two touchdowns.

The good: Marshawn Lynch touched the ball on each of Seattle’s first four plays and had 43 yards rushing on Seattle’s opening possession. That was a significant improvement from a week ago when Lynch carried eight times all game. Lynch carried 21 times for 125 yards, a season-high. It was the second time he surpassed 100 yards rushing this season. Wilson was 4-for-8 passing in the first half for 28 yards. He completed all six passes he threw in the third quarter for 64 yards in addition to his 10-yard touchdown run. Baldwin caught six passes for 76 yards, including the game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The bad: A week after they finished without committing a turnover, the Seahawks turned the ball over twice in the first half as Wilson was intercepted in the first quarter and receiver Jermaine Kearse lost a fumble on a kickoff return in the second. Wilson was picked off to end Seattle’s first drive. It was the first time he had been intercepted since Week 5 at Indianapolis. It ended Wilson’s streak of 81 consecutive pass attempts without being intercepted. Tampa Bay scored first on Glennon’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Tim Wright. It was the second straight week the Seahawks’ opponent scored first. Seattle failed to score first only once in first seven games. The Seahawks allowed an opponent to rush for more than 200 yards for the second consecutive week. That’s the first time that has happened in back-to-back games since November 2002.

The ugly: Mike James rushed for 158 yards against Seattle, the most the Seahawks had allowed all year. After allowing six touchdown passes in the first half of the season, Seattle gave up three in the first half of Sunday’s game.

The worst: James’ jump pass to tight end Tom Crabtree for the Bucs’ third touchdown. Free safety Earl Thomas lost an interception when he was penalized for pass interference.

Go figure: 2:58. That was Seattle’s time of possession in the second quarter when the Seahawks gave up 21 points to Tampa Bay.

Injuries

Seattle: Center Max Unger left the game with a concussion in the fourth quarter. Right tackle Michael Bowie suffered a right knee injury at the end of the second quarter, but returned in the third period. Lynch sat out a series in the first quarter.

Inactives

Seattle: QB B.J. Daniels, S Jeron Johnson, FB Derrick Coleman, T Breno Giacomini, T Caylin Hauptmann, DE Benson Mayowa, RB Christine Michael.

Tampa Bay: RB Doug Martin, RB Jeff Demps, CB Deveron Carr, S Dashon Goldson, G Patrick Omameh, G Carl Nicks, WR Chris Owusu.