Last week the Seahawks broke a franchise record for winning with only seven first downs. This week, Seattle breaks a franchise record for coming back from the greatest deficit in team history.
The Buccaneers scored 21 points in the second quarter to jump out to a three-touchdown lead. The Seahawks were able to bounce back by holding Tampa Bay to three points in the second half on their way to a 27-24 overtime win.
I’m all for breaking records, but I’m not sure if my sanity can take many more of these types of wins. In fact, I have something I want to say to Coach Pete Carroll and 10-time game-winning comeback artist Russell Wilson.
“Okay coach, enough. We get it. You can come back from any deficit. I’m pretty sure we all bought in to this after the 20-point near comeback against the Falcons in the playoffs. You’ve done this enough now. We all have faith, and many of us now expect, that this team will come back when you fall behind.”
Down 24-7 after the Buccaneers scored for the final time, the Seahawks offense put together a drive in the third quarter that had me wondering out loud if the team actually allowed an early 21-point deficit to happen just to prove they could com back from it.
It’s crazy to think that way, but at the time it seemed like there was no other way to explain the way the team was operating (unless this was a 10am kickoff on the east coast in 2012 and were just now waking up). Seemingly every player on the team had a big play in the five-minute, nine-play drive.
Zach Miller catches a 17-yards pass, Marshawn Lynch has a 13-yard run, Robert Turbin goes up the middle for 12 yards, Golden Tate catches a 19-yard pass and Doug Baldwin has another one of those crazy sideline catches where it looks like Russell is just throwing it away. Then Wilson finishes off the drive with a 10-yard run into the end zone.
Maybe Jermaine Kearse, despite catching the team’s first touchdown, was still in the doghouse on that drive. It was his fumble on a kickoff return that resulted in the Bucs going up 21-0.
Down 10, with 20 minutes left to play, it almost felt like a certainty at that point that Seattle was going to make the comeback.
After four minutes fall off the clock for the Bucs possession, Golden Tate makes everyone forget that it’s late in the third quarter and Tampa Bay is punting for just the second time in the game. When, after receiving the ball inside the 5-yard line, Tate runs it back for a 71-yard return that is too spectacular to describe without adding another full page of text to this recap.
Settling for a 36-yard field goal and following up the next drive with an interception at the goal line, the Seahawks were not shaken. With eight minutes left in the game, they were certain to get another possession, and the Buccaneers were suddenly going nowhere on offense.
The defense picked a good time to get their first three-and-out, because it kept the game within a touchdown at 24-17 and Wilson had the ball with six minutes left on the clock.
Then, as if offensive coordinator Darell Bevell was reading all of the “fire Bevell” tweets online after not running the ball with Lynch on the goal line, the Bucs got a heavy dose of Marshawn. The comeback was completed with a short pass to Doug Baldwin where he made a defender miss to take the ball into the end zone.
In overtime, the Seahawks defense gets its second three-and-out and Seattle immediately returns to feeding the ball to Lynch on nearly every play. With three runs of 10+ yards he was in full Beast Mode and looking as though he had no interest in settling for a field goal.
Eventually, Seattle does settle for the field goal when Darrelle Revis (I thought this was an appropriate time to finally mention his name) was able to take Lynch down at the 6-yard line.
It was nearly a debacle when the officials didn’t whistle a clear kneel down by Wilson. The Bucs strip the ball and it wasn’t until after Russell recovered it that they decided to recognize the fact that he had already downed the ball.
Good snap. Ball down. 27-yard field goal through the uprights. Seahawks win 27-24.
Whew.
After the game, Carroll wasn’t particularly impressed by the fact a franchise record had been broken.
“We ain’t real proud of that, because it put us 21 to nothing to break that record,” he said.
He wasn’t proud of his defense either for allowing 205 yards on the ground, including 158 yards to rookie Mike James who was filling in behind the injured Doug Martin.
“We’re kind of in a funk,” said Carroll. “We’re trying to take the ball away so much that we’re not tackling very well.”
Seattle continues to win while continuing to learn things about their team that we all hope will make them into the Super Bowl winner we all want to see.
At 8-1 on the season, they pick up a game on the New Orleans Saints who lost on the road to the Jets. The only team in the league with the better record right now is the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s hard to find much to complain about when you look at it from that perspective, but I could really use a nice relaxing blowout win over the Falcons next week. The defense saved the day last week. The offense rallied this week. Let’s put it all together and get a little bit of revenge in Atlanta for last season’s playoff loss.