Recap: Buccaneers defeat Seahawks after offensive line seemingly takes week off

The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday 14-5 in a game that resembled the offensively inefficient games of the Seahawks earlier in the season. Seattle is now 7-3-1 but thanks to an equally inept National Football Conference West division, the Seahawks still lead the division by three games with five to play.

The Story: The offensive horribleness that was meant to resemble a normal, healthy Russell Wilson-led offense.

Wilson ran well. That is a positive one can point to. Wilson was able to get outside the pocket several times and make third down runs that resulted in first downs. The issue was that he was having to run many of those times.

The offensive line was just that: offensive. Supposedly, the offensive line had made strides in recent weeks. The line was decent against the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles, two teams with good defenses. The Buccaneers had a supposedly porous defense but simply looked like they wanted to win the game more.

Wilson was under constant pressure. He was sacked six times and could have been many times more. Tampa Bay dominated the line of scrimmage. And until the fourth quarter when the statistics became a bit skewed, the Buccaneers controlled every facet of the game: field position, time of possession, total yards. On this day, Tampa Bay was simply better than Seattle.

Does this game mean that Seattle is not a Super Bowl-contending team? No. But the game again illuminated glaring weaknesses for Seattle offensively that nearly any playoff team could take advantage of.

MVP: K.J. Wright

Wright gets this “honor” almost by default. Wright had several nice stops, including a huge hit to put a stop to the Buccaneers first half drive which resulted in time running out in the half. Wright continues his Pro Bowl-caliber season, but his great game unfortunately did not help the Seahawks in a win.

LVP: The offensive line as a whole

Read above if you have questions about this.

Play of the Game:

Wilson’s interception at the end of the first half was awful for the Seahawks, but in all honesty the turnover was a great human moment. Alterraun Verner’s father passed away on Friday and then Verner came up with this momentum changing play.

Tweet of the Week:

Hawk Blogger Brian Nemhauser put the offensive line issues succinctly…

Next Up:

Sunday December 4th vs Carolina Panthers
5:30 PM PST
CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington
TV: NBC

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