Carved Up By Buccaneers, Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald Takes Responsibility For Defensive Letdown
SEATTLE, Wash. – Knotted up at 21 apiece on the scoreboard with under eight minutes to play in the third quarter, the Seattle Seahawks found themselves in what had become an all-too-familiar feeling on Sunday, backed up against the shadow of their own goal line attempting to hold serve in the red zone against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Having already forced two field goals in the same situation earlier in the game, the Seahawks looked to be on their way to turning the Buccaneers away without a touchdown again after outside linebacker Boye Mafe hauled down running back Rachaad White for an eight-yard loss to bring up 3rd and 15 from Seattle’s 20-yard line. With both offenses humming on all cylinders, turning six points into three would be a major win in the middle of an early October track meet at Lumen Field.
But as he did all afternoon to Mike Macdonald’s beleaguered, battered defense, Baker Mayfield had other plans.
Playing the role of a shark sensing blood in the water after cornerback Riq Woolen left to be evaluated for a concussion and Nehemiah Pritchett checked into the lineup, Mayfield wasted no time going into attack mode testing the second-year defender. With a clean pocket and no pressure to worry about, the savvy veteran passer lofted a perfect dime to rising star Emeka Egbuka in the back of the end zone, turning what seemed to be an ideal third and long scenario for the Seahawks into a back-breaking touchdown to put the Buccaneers back in front 21-14.
No play better characterized a disastrous off day for Seattle’s defense on Sunday afternoon, as Tampa Bay converted seven out of 11 third down opportunities, including a 57-yard strike to Egbuka on the very next series on 3rd and 12 that led to a White touchdown run, allowing them to escape the Pacific Northwest with a stirring 38-35 statement road win behind more than 450 yards of total offense.
“They did a great job of scheming stuff open. We obviously have to play better,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said in his opening statement after the loss. “So it goes both ways. But we knew they were a great offense. We just didn’t get it done. When you have guys open like that, that can’t happen. That’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Entering Week 5 with a top five ranked scoring defense, much to Macdonald’s chagrin, the Seahawks resembled anything but that on Sunday. They couldn’t have stopped a nosebleed, let alone the uber-efficient Mayfield-led Buccaneers offense that slung the pigskin all over the yard from start to finish to the tune of 379 passing yards with just four incompletions on 33 attempts and no turnovers.
Without cornerback Devon Witherspoon, safety Julian Love, and defensive end Demarcus Lawrence before kickoff and losing Woolen and outside linebacker Derick Hall during the game, it would be easy to point to injuries as a culprit for the struggles. But the Buccaneers had plenty of dinged up players sitting out on their sideline too and while both teams capitalized on absences in their opponent’s secondary, the Seahawks could not take advantage of an offensive line missing two starters in the pass rushing department.
Minus Lawrence and Hall, even against a line down to second stringers at right tackle and right guard, the Seahawks generated only one hit on Mayfield in 60 minutes with their front four. The normally disruptive trio of defensive tackles Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed, and Byron Murphy II combined for zero hits and were AWOL for most of the afternoon, with a personal foul penalty against Williams at the goal line being the only notable play made by any of them.
“Our guys went in there and played. The expectation is the same no matter who is out there,” Macdonald remarked. “But again, we got to design better things. Pressures have to be more locked in. Got to call them at better times. All these things. Our pressure coverage was very weak today. That’s something we need to look at.”
In the rare instance where Seattle collapsed the pocket on Mayfield, the sneaky signal caller calmly moved his launching point to extend his passing window or escaped finding creases to take off as a runner. Under minimal duress throughout the afternoon, he was able to carve up an undermanned secondary with receivers such as Egbuka, who went for 163 yards on seven catches, running wide open and uncovered at all three levels to give the quarterback layup after layup.
Compounding matters, as Seattle’s pass rush and coverage on the back end failed to work in sync, the entire defense forgot how to tackle. On multiple occasions, defenders would have Tampa Bay’s pass catchers lined up for second and third down stops, only to take bad angles or fail to wrap up and allow the ball carrier to slip away for extra yardage. Further highlighting the team’s troubles getting off the field, tight end Cade Otton broke multiple tackles on a 3rd and 12 dump off in the second quarter, turning a possible punt into a new set of downs and setting up White’s first touchdown.
“Look, when it doesn't come to life on the field - I'm responsible for what comes to life on the field, and it doesn't come to life to do so it's my responsibility. But we will definitely be looking at that. We missed way too many tackles,” Macdonald said.
Thanks to Sam Darnold’s own theatrics under center with 341 passing yards and four touchdown passes, the Seahawks were granted multiple chances to come through with big stops in the second half, and to the group’s credit, they did force a punt midway through the fourth credit on the heels of their lone sack on Mayfield. For a few brief moments, the home team took a 35-28 lead when Tory Horton hauled in a 21-yard touchdown on 4th and 2.
But the advantage proved to be short-lived, as Mayfield marched the Buccaneers right back down the field with no resistance, eventually hooking up with Sterling Shepard for his second touchdown pass of the day after he beat Pritchett on a dig route to knot the score again with a hair over a minute left to play.
After Darnold’s final pass attempt deflected off defensive lineman Logan Hall’s helmet and linebacker Lavonte David came down with an interception in Seattle territory, the Seahawks defense broke down again on the ensuing third down, allowing White to bounce a run to the right against busted contain for a 12-yard run before wisely giving himself up inbounds. Caleb McLaughlin came on two plays later and split the uprights to seal the win as time expired.
Telling reporters afterward he was angry about the defensive letdown, safety Coby Bryant wasn’t interested in making excuses regarding injuries, simply acknowledging everyone from the defensive line back to the secondary needed to hold themselves accountable for a performance not even close to meeting their standard.
"It can be tough, but at the end of the day, it's like I said earlier, the next man up mentality,” Bryant stated. “Whoever is out there, we've all got to be on the same page. We didn't do that today."
For his part, Macdonald took the sword in the aftermath of the defeat, accepting the blame for Seattle not being prepared well enough for a quality opponent and vowing to do a better job of putting his players in position to succeed. Nobody may have been more disappointed and embarrassed by what transpired on their home field more than the coach charged with calling the plays on defense.
As is always the case in the NFL, there won’t be much time to dwell on what went wrong on Sunday, and Macdonald and the rest of his coaching staff will have to quickly diagnose what ailed a normally stout defense before shifting focus to a tough road game coming up against an upstart Jaguars squad and get their players ready to roll. Whether or not they will be healthier by next weekend remains to be seen, but regardless of who suits up, everything from tackling to pass rush lane integrity to coverage communication will have to be dramatically better to get back in the win column.
