Seattle • When the football glanced off the hands of former Utah safety Marquise Blair and fluttered into the arms of Tampa Bay receiver Breshad Perriman in the end zone, the Seattle Seahawks hardly could have figured everything would go their way Sunday.
Somehow, though, they got the ending right again.
Russell Wilson’s 10-yard pass to tight end Jacob Hollister on the first possession of overtime, Wilson’s fifth touchdown of the day, gave Seattle a 40-34 win over Tampa Bay at CenturyLink Field. The latest escape for the Seahawks (7-2) left Blair lamenting that first-quarter bounce, while former Utah State linebacker Bobby Wagner was disappointed in the Seahawks’ defensive effort on a day when he made 1,000th career NFL tackle.
And ex-Ute linebacker Cody Barton, a Seahawks rookie, could only marvel about how his team keeps doing this stuff. Seattle has won games by one, two, one, four, seven and six points, staying close to unbeaten San Francisco in the NFC West. The Seahawks will visit the 49ers next Monday in the first of two meetings this season.
“Hey, we find a way to win, you what I mean? At the end of the day, the 'W' is all that matters,” Barton said.
The latest ending could have come sooner, if the Seahawks had kept Tampa Bay from driving for a tying touchdown with 46 seconds left or if Seattle’s Jacob Myers had made a 40-yard field goal as time expired in regulation. The Seahawks made sure Jameis Winston and the Tampa Bay offense never touched the ball in overtime. Otherwise, who knows what may have happened on a day when the Seahawks allowed Winston to pass for 335 yards.
Storylines
-The Seattle Seahawks (7-2) win for the sixth time this season by seven points or fewer, beating Tampa Bay 40-34 in overtime Sunday.
-Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner, from Utah State, makes 11 tackles, giving him 1,000 in his eight-year NFL career.
-Former Utah kicker Matt Gay hits field goals of 41 and 45 yards for Tampa Bay, after missing from 50 yards.
Afterward, Wagner fielded variations of the same question from wave of interviewers, expressing just the right amount of disgust with his defense’s effort. “We’re getting the wins; we’ve just got to put it together and be more disciplined,” Wagner said. “It’s more on myself and the rest of the veterans to make sure the message is not missed that although we’re winning, we’ve got to play clean football.”
The 1,000-tackle mark came a week after Wagner broke the franchise record for tackles in a 27-20 victory at Atlanta, during his eighth season. That game was a case of the Seahawks holding on after storming ahead, thanks to Blair's forced fumble near the goal line. In Sunday's episode, they trailed 21-7, stemming partly from the crazy play where Blair's would-be interception turned into a Tampa Bay touchdown.
“Man, I should have caught it; that's it,” Blair said. “I should have caught that ball.”
Yet the Seahawks caught up in the third quarter, and the game went back and forth from there. Former Utah kicker Matt Gay gave the Buccaneers (2-6) a 24-21 lead with a 41-yard field goal and tied the game at 27-27 on a 45-yarder with 5:22 to play.
The teams then matched touchdowns in regulation, before the Seahawks won the coin toss and Wilson's offense kept their defense from having to take the field. On a third-and-6 play from the Bucs 35, Wilson floated a 29-yard pass to DK Metcalf down the sideline. That completion set up the winning play, as Wilson topped his 378-yard passing day.
“We’ve been able to do it all year,” Wilson said. “That confidence, that unwavering belief; it’s real.”
