SEATTLE – A game that was 6-0 with barely over two minutes left in the first half turned on a dime into a shootout.
And in a game in which the Seahawks’ Sam Darnold and the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield took turns taking advantage of secondaries decimated by injuries, it was the Bucs who were left standing at the end.
After Darnold made his biggest mistake of the day, an interception that gave the Bucs the ball at the Seattle 35 with under a minute left.
The Bucs ran off the rest of the clock and kicker Chase McLaughlin calmly booted through a 39-yard field goal as time ran out to lift the Bucs to a 38-35 win.
That capped a wild game in which the two teams combined for 53 points in the second half with Mayfield completing 15 of 17 passes for 253 yards and two TDs after halftime, while Darnold was 15 of 17 for 211 yards and three TDs.
The Seahawks fell to 3-2, for the second time this year dropping a game at home on a turnover in the final minute, but also seeing the flip side of last week’s win at Arizona in which the Seahawks won on a last-play field goal.
That the Bucs moved the ball at will proved particularly disappointing to Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, even if the Seahawks began the game without three defensive starters and then lost two more as the day wore on.
“I have to do better with our defensive game plan, our election, how we call it,” Macdonald said. “When you put up a performance like that it means that I didn’t prepare them well enough. It hurts. It stings. It should because our guys worked extremely hard and they care. But they are going to use this to move forward and that’s the only thing we can do.”
The Seahawks looked for a minute to be in control.
With the game tied at 28 and just over three minutes remaining, the Seahawks eschewed a field goal on a fourth-and-2 at the Tampa Bay 21.
The decision momentarily looked like disaster as Darnold found himself hemmed in and in danger of being sacked.
But Darnold broke loose and spotted a wide open Tory Horton near the goal line and lofted the pass his way for an easy TD and a Seahawks 35-28 lead with 3:18 left.
That was the Seahawks’ fifth consecutive possession with a touchdown.
The Bucs came right back with Mayfield throwing an 11-yard TD to Shepard with 1:08 left.
The Bucs decided not to go for two and a win-or-lose play and tied the game with a point after kick.
The Seahawks had all three of their time outs as they began their next drive at their own 23 with 1:03 remaining.
On the second play from the 32, the Bucs blitzed and Darnold threw a hurried pass that glanced off the helmet off Tampa Bay’s Logan Hall and into the hands of linebacker Lavonte David at the Seattle 35 with 53 seconds left.
Darnold took the blame for the play later saying he should have done a better job diagnosing the Tampa Bay defense.
“I felt like I could have changed the projection and just been aware of it,” Darnold said. “I’ve just got to be a lot better there pre-snap.”
A 12-yard run by Rachaad White picked up a first down to the Seattle 20 and allowed the Bucs to run out the rest of the clock.
The Bucs called a time out with three seconds left and McLaughlin booted through the winner.
The Seahawks entered the game without starting safety Julian Love (hamstring) and cornerback Devon Witherspoon (knee) and lost starting corner Riq Woolen to a concussion in the third quarter.
They also lost edge rusher Derick Hall to an oblique injury in the first quarter after entering the game without starting end DeMarcus Lawrence. That led to an evident lack of pass rush as the game wore on.
The Bucs entered the game without starting cornerback Jamel Dean and two other backups.
It seemed to take each team a little while to realize the other was short-handed, as the first half ended 13-7.
But the Seahawks scored TDs on four straight possessions to begin the second half, while the Bucs scored TDs on three of their first four possessions.
Darnold and Mayfield didn’t throw an incompletion in the third quarter. Darnold was 6 of 6 for 116 yards and a TD, while Mayfield was 9 of 9 for 152 yards and a TD. Mayfield also completed a two-point conversion.
That turned a 13-7 Tampa Bay halftime lead into a 28-21 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Darnold keyed one TD drive with a 53-yard pass to Smith-Njigba, his longest completion as a Seahawk, after which Mayfield responded with a 57-yard pass to Emeka Egbuka to set up a Bucs TD.
The Seahawks also took advantage of a big break in the fourth quarter when Darnold pass went off the hands of Tampa Bay linebacker Yaya Diaby, who could have had an easy touchdown, and into those of Cooper Kupp for a completion for a first down out to the 12.
That tied the game at 28.
Walker gained 22 on the next play and the Seahawks were out of trouble and on the move. They moved for a 21-yard Darnold TD to Tory Horton on a fourth down with 3:18 left.
But the Seahawks couldn’t stop the Bucs, who tied it with 1:08 remaining.
Then came the David pick and disappointment and disaster for the Seahawks.