By Byron Richmond
Bruce Arians had a perfect game plan coming into the game and it worked to perfection from the beginning. The Bucs won the toss and elected to receive and it payed off in the beginning as Ronald Jones ran it for an 8 yard touchdown to strike first blood.
The Seahawks on the next possession answered the calling right back at the Bucs as they hurried down the field and scored on a 19 yard touchdown catch to Tyler Lockett from Russell Wilson to tie the game with 8:23 left in the first.
The next couple of drives from both teams didn’t go well as they both went three and out and had to punt.
The following drive for the Bucs was a lucky one as they had not only a pass interference call on Mike Evans but on 3 and 11 in the red zone Winston scrambled to his left and had the ball tipped but caught by Breshad Perryman in the end zone to go up 14-7.
The Bucs were able to hold Seattle back on the very next drive to get the ball back and scurry back down the field on a 63 yard drive between Chris Godwin and Mike Evans to make the score 21-7 with 4:32 in the half.
Seahawks next possession was again denied by back to back sacks from Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul.
Bucs failed on their next possession as the Seahawks stopped them three and out to get the ball back and with the help of some big penalties Russell Wilson threw a one yard touchdown pass to Jacob Hollister to make the score 21-13.
The Bucs ended the half with a missed 50 yard field goal by Matt Gay. Seattle opened the second half on offense but was once again dominated by Todd Bowles defense as they had to punt and then our offense didn’t do anything after that punt.
On the next possession by the Hawks Chris Carson would begin with a 59 yard run which would have possibly been a touch down if Devin White would not have caught up to him and knocked the ball out of bounds which is unfortunate because the very next play Russell Wilson threw a 2 yard touchdown pass Lockett and went for 2 and was successful to tie the game at 21 a piece with 8 minutes left in the 3rd.
The Bucs next drive was forced to settle for a 41 yard field goal and then Seattle answered right back with another field goal to keep the game tied at 24.
The Seahawks then after another Bucs punt got as far as the Bucs 4 yard line and was held only to field goal by the defense to make the score 24-27 with 8:22 left and on the very next possession the Bucs mustered up a 45 yard field goal to tie it up at 27 with 5:22 remaining.
The next Seahawks possession D.K Metcalf turned up the juice as Wilson connected to him for a 53 yard touchdown pass to pull out ahead 27-34 with 4:25 left.
Tampa Bay on the next drive got into Seattle territory and faced a 4th and 5 and a big completion to Mike Evans got the Bucs to the 1 yard line where running back Dare Ogunbowale would pound it in for the score to tie the game again at 34 with .46 seconds remaining in the game.
Seattle then hurried down the field to the Bucs 22 yard line where Myers missed his third field goal of the game to send the game into overtime.
Gene Smith won the toss for the Hawks and they elected to receive and of course Wilson being the MVP caliber Quarterback he is led them down to as far as the Bucs 6 yard line in where he on the next throw he was able to connect to Hollister again for a 6 yard touchdown pass to end the game as the Seahawks beat the Bucs 34-40.
What a great game this was, no one predicted that the Bucs would go toe to toe with the Hawks and did they ever prove them wrong.
