SEATTLE — With the Mariners’ postseason in action across the street, the temptation was to co-opt a baseball term and call Tampa Bay’s 38-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks a pitchers’ duel.
Not because it was low-scoring, but because the two hurlers — Seattle’s Sam Darnold and Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield — battled with almost perfect efficiency.
Of course, they should have, considering much of this NFL game looked like it was the National Flag-football League, with rushers having to count “4-Mississippi” before charging the line of scrimmage, allowing quarterbacks plenty of time to find their targets with impunity.
Combined, the two attempted 67 passes, completing 57 (85%), with only one sack and four combined hurries.
It seemed that the first team that could pressure the opposing quarterback would win.
And in the end, after having mounted five straight touchdown-scoring drives against the highly rated Buccaneer defense, Darnold had a minute left in the game to drive for the game-winner.
But the Bucs finally got to him. Tightly embraced by a defender, Darnold tried to throw the ball away to avoid a sack, but it bounced off the helmet of a Buc lineman and ricocheted to linebacker Lavonte David to set up the visitors for the game-winning field goal.
Can’t really blame that one on Darnold, who had connected on four touchdowns before that miscue.
Blame for this one came down to a slow start, falling behind 13-0, and never being able to stop Mayfield.
The culprits in that regard? Seahawks’ tackling was uncharacteristically shoddy at times, and the secondary coverage was obviously diminished by injuries.
It’s never an excuse in the NFL, but in the final possessions, the Hawk secondary was manned by three backups. Starters Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon were ruled out before the game with injuries, while Riq Woolen and Nick Emmanwori were both lost to injuries during the game.
Now 3-2, the Hawks lost another opportunity to close the deal against a quality team. They dropped the opener against the rival 49ers on a last-minute fumble here at home, and now added an “L” to Tampa Bay (4-1).
The atmosphere at Lumen was certainly conducive for a quality win, on a day when the throwback uniforms allowed the silver helmets to reflect the bright sunshine, and the vivid blue jerseys matching the clear October sky.
Who can explain why in the world the Seahawks ever went away from the bright royal blue jerseys (AI suggests the color “symbolizes royalty, luxury, confidence and authority”)?
At half, the Hawks recognized their 50th anniversary season by bringing to the field those players who were voted the top 50 in franchise history. Aside from the late Cortez Kennedy and Dave Brown, and a few others who couldn’t make it, nostalgia took over during intermission.
Perhaps motivated by the presence of their celebrated predecessors, the Hawks took over, scoring on every second-half possession until Darnold doinked his aborted throw-away off the be-plumed pirate on the throwback helmet of Buccaneer defender Logan Hall.
“That was bad quarterback play on that last snap,” Darold said. “That was on me; I was trying to throw it away.”
Darnold finished with 28 completions in 34 attempts for 341 yards — all high marks for his five-game tenure with the Seahawks.
“Incredibly impressive performance by (Darnold),” said receiver Cooper Kupp. Kupp added six catches for 59 yards to the stellar statistics of receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (8 catches for 132 yards). “It’s a crushing way for that (game) to end. It hurts, man.”
So many elements of this one were worthy of a win for the Seahawks. Behind Kenneth Walker III’s 86 yards on 10 carries, the team racked up 122 yards on the ground, validating the improvement shown last week with 155 against the Arizona Cardinals.
“We obviously have to play better,” coach Mike Macdonald said. “They’re a great offense. We just didn’t get it done.”
Macdonald avoided mentioning the injuries as an excuse for the absence of a pass rush and consistent pass coverage. But the substandard play was obvious.
In their previous four games, the Hawks hadn’t given up more than 20 points, so, the 38 hung up by the Bucs seems an obvious outlier.
“Our press coverage was very weak today, and that’s something we’ve got to look at,” Macdonald said. “It’s my responsibility.”
At times, the Hawks came up with huge plays, the kind that it will take to challenge in their division.
In the end, though, the beautiful jerseys and the support of the greatest stars from decades past weren’t enough to coax the Seahawks to what could have been a signature win.
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