SEATTLE – No matter what it looked like Sunday afternoon, the Seattle Seahawks' 27-24 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers counts the same as earlier blowout wins against the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars.
"There's no such thing as sloppy wins," cornerback Richard Sherman said. "They're just wins."
Yet after just squeaking by the St. Louis Rams and now the Buccaneers, teams that are a combined 3-14 this season, in the span of six days, Seattle has shown some serious flaws -- the type of issues that could derail a season with Super Bowl aspirations if not fixed soon.
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BOX SCORE: Seahawks 27, Buccaneers 24 OT
But here's the good news: Seattle players and coaches know it.
The Seahawks didn't strut around their locker room after beating the Bucs. Sure, players were proud of the resiliency they showed in erasing a 21-0 second-quarter deficit for the biggest comeback in franchise history, but they almost seemed relieved to have once again found a way to escape.
"We've got to play a lot better if we want to be the Super Bowl team we know we can be. We have to play a lot better," middle linebacker Bobby Wagner said.
Seattle's defense has allowed 405 rushing yards in the past two games, including consecutive 100-yard performances by unheralded rookie running backs. St. Louis' Zac Stacy got 134 yards on Monday night. Tampa's Mike James, filling in for the injured Doug Martin, was even better with 158 yards. Both players averaged over 5 yards per carry against the Seahawks.
"We have to be honest and look in the mirror and say, things are bad right now," defensiv e end Michael Bennett said.
Or, as Pete Carroll described it Sunday evening, "a funk" caused by poor tackling.
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"We're trying to take the ball away so much that we're not tackling very well. Until we fix that, we're going to continue to struggle," Carroll said. "It's real obvious to me what the difference is. There's a lot of yards after first contact by the running backs, so we need to do much better there."
A week after being sacked seven times by the Rams, quarterback Russell Wilson was again under frequent pressure against the Bucs. He wasn't sacked, but he was hit six times – including hits that took a toll on Wilson's upper body.
"He kind of got banged a couple of times," Carroll said. "He got hit enough today that a couple of things were bothering him."
Wilson, who threw two interceptions against Tampa, said he didn't sustain any significant injuries in the game, adding that he w ill be able to play next week against the Atlanta Falcons.
His protection should improve soon. Left tackle Russell Okung, on short-term injured reserve with a toe injury since mid-September, is expected to practice this week, as will right tackle Breno Giacomini, who has missed six games with a knee injury. The earliest Okung could return to a game is Nov. 17 against Minnesota.
Seattle was re-committed to its running game Sunday but maybe not enough. Marshawn Lynch, who only had eight carries against the Rams, rushed for 125 yards on 21 carries. Six of those carries and 44 of those yards came on Seattle's game-winning drive in overtime.
Perhaps Seattle should have given Lynch at least one more handoff.
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With a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line in the fourth quarter, Wilson tried to throw a pass to Doug Baldwin in the end zone. Tampa safety Keith Tandy leapt at the goal line to intercept it, ending a chance for the Seahawks to tie the game.
Both Wilson and Carroll defended the play call, the throw and the route, and attributed the interception strictly to Tandy's outstanding individual play.
"It's easy to say we should run the football," Carroll said. "M aybe next time we will."
But certainly there were plenty of positives for the Seahawks – and the lopsided second half in Seattle's favor showed exactly why the Seahawks remain atop of the NFC while the Buccaneers still search for their first win.
Tampa showed up in Seattle playing like a team that had nothing to lose, and yet it still lost. The Bucs attempted (and nearly pulled off) an onside kick in the second quarter and dug deep into the playbook to call a jump pass from James to tight end Tom Crabtree at the goal line for a touchdown. It was one of the silliest touchdowns of the season, and it nearly failed after Crabtree fell on his behind but managed to climb to his feet just in time to catch the ball.
"It's one of those games where it could turn their season around if they beat us," Bennett said. "It's like the Super Bowl for them almost."
Four of Tampa's eight losses have come by three points or less, while five of Seattle's eight wins h ave been within a touchdown. The Seahawks' lone loss, to Indianapolis, was by six points.
And that's why, even on a day when some parts of their game looked so sloppy, the Seahawks still racked up another win. At 8-1, Seattle is off to its best start in franchise history.
"It's crazy that through all of it, we've still found a way to win," Wagner said. "If you walked up and down that whole sideline, you didn't see anybody with their head down or anybody feeling like we weren't going to win."
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