For the fourth time this season the Tampa Bay Buccaneers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, but for the first time it feels like a true turning point.
Not to take anything away from the Week 2 win against Houston, which is firmly a 1B signature win, Tampa Bay's game in Seattle on Sunday was everything the team needed to prove it's a Super Bowl contender.
There's been elements of luck involved in the Bucs' 4-1 start, but Sunday was evolution over anything else. Tampa Bay didn't rely on a missed kick or a bad coaching decision to bail them out; they earned a win the hard way and in improbable fashion.
What makes the win in Seattle a bigger signature moment than the comeback in Houston starts with the Seahawks being a much better team. The Bucs were up against a playoff-caliber team with a defense ranked No. 1 in the league in various metrics.
Add to that the fact that Sam Darnold is playing out of his mind this year, something he proved on Sunday with a 341 yard, four touchdown performance. What he didn't do was finish with a clean sheet, which is where the masterfulness of Tampa Bay's win can truly be seen.
Darnold carved up the Bucs' defense, but it was a unit that was missing a handful of key starters. Both Jamel Dean and Benjamin Morrison were out, which meant guys like Jacob Parrish and Kindle Vildor were relied upon to cover Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and AJ Barner.
It was an ugly game in the secondary but that's the unit that came through in the end with a massive turnover. On what appeared to be yet another drive where the Bucs defense couldn't stop an opponent in the clutch from setting up a game-winning field goal, Tampa Bay turned Seattle over and allowed its own offense that opportunity.
Lavonte David intercepted Sam Darnold with 0:58 left in the game to set up Chase McLaughlin's 39-yard walk-off kick -- which is the other reason this game stands above.
All season long special teams has been the fly in Tampa Bay's ointment. Blocked kicks, poor coverage, and an overall lack of impact has helped make an already tough uphill battle even harder. On Sunday all of that flipped; Riley Dixon was phenomenal, McLaughlin was 3-for-3 with a game-winner, and even the kick coverage came through with a huge stop at the end of the game after having been gashed all afternoon.
If the kickoff team didn't correct itself and hold Seattle to just a 20-yard return, there's a chance the Bucs don't have as easy a time setting up the game-winning field goal after Darnold's turnover. It stopped Seattle's growing momentum dead in its tracks and Tampa Bay's sqeakiest wheel helped roll the team to a big win.
Perhaps the biggest win of the season. By beating Seattle, the Bucs have announced themselves as Super Bowl contenders. Tampa Bay was missing key players like Bucky Irving, Mike Evans, Jamel Dean, Benjamin Morrison, and both Calijah Kancey and Cody Mauch, but marched into Seattle and won a shootout with one of the best teams in the league.
There have been a lot of subversive moments so far this season, but the win in Seattle is the first time Tampa Bay's status as a true contender cannot be questioned.
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