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Buccaneers-Seahawks: Top Storylines & Key Matchups in Week Five

Mike Macdonald's defense is on the rise and QB Sam Darnold has fit in well in his new home, creating a another stiff challenge for the Buccaneers in a Week Five battle of 3-1 teams

Oct 01, 2025 at 09:30 AM

Scott Smith

Senior Writer/Editor

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will head to Seattle in Week Five for yet another matchup of first-place teams, with the Seahawks matching the Bucs' 3-1 record. The game is set for Sunday, October 5 at Lumen field, with kickoff at 4:05 p.m. ET and the CBS set to broadcast it locally.

The Buccaneers got to 3-1 by winning three straight to start the season before dropping a thriller in Week Four to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. The Buccaneers are already 2-0 on the road but still have upcoming battles away from home with Detroit, Buffalo and the Los Angeles Rams, so the path to a winning road record is not getting any easier. In Week Four, the Buccaneers welcomed back left tackle Tristan Wirfs and wide receiver Chris Godwin, though they also played without top wide receiver Mike Evans due to a hamstring injury that is expected to sideline him for multiple weeks. The Bucs found some big-play capability in their offense in Week Four with two Baker Mayfield touchdown passes of 70-plus yards, but are still relying on a 10th-ranked rushing attack to keep the attack balanced.

The Seahawks' 3-1 record materialized in opposite fashion, as they lost at home to division-rival San Francisco in Week One before ripping off consecutive wins against Pittsburgh, New Orleansand Arizona. Seattle's only other home game so far this season is a 44-13 thrashing of the Saints in Week Three. The Seahawks have been succeeding on both sides of the ball, ranking sixth on offense with 27.8 points scored per game and second on defense with 16.8 points allowed per game. Only the high-powered Lions have a better point differential so far than the Seahawks. Quarterback Sam Darnold, who was signed to replace Geno Smith after his trade to the Raiders, is thriving in his new home with a 106.5 passer rating and third-year receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is one of this season's breakout stars. The Seattle defense has already produced 12 sacks and seven interceptions and is allowing just 4.48 yard per play, third-lowest in the NFL.

Here are four major storylines and four head-to-head player battles to keep an eye on as the Bucs head west for a showdown of first-place teams in Seattle.

TOP STORYLINES

The Gauntlet Continues – The Buccaneers' 3-0 start to the season was important as they began their pursuit of a record fifth straight NFC South title, as it gave them a little bit of early breathing room in the standings. After three weeks, the Bucs already had a two-game lead in the division, though that shrunk to one over the 2-2 Atlanta Falcons after last week's results. That early cushion may be needed as the Buccaneers navigate a stretch of games that – if the standings are to be believed – features a murderer's row of NFC contenders. After their loss to the still-undefeated Eagles in Week Four, the Bucs now have to go from one corner of the country to the other to play a 3-1 Seahawks team that is coming off extra days of rest due to their Week Four appearance on Thursday night football. The Bucs come home after that but Week Seven brings a visit from the 49ers, who are tied with the Seahawks for first in the NFC West at 3-1. To top off the four-game stretch, the Bucs will make what seems like an annual sojourn to Detroit, to face a Lions team that is also 3-1 through four games. Tampa Bay proved in both 2023 and 2024 that it is capable of making a late-season surge when it absolutely has to, but the team would prefer not to be fighting from behind due to a midseason lull. The Bucs have somestiff challenges ahead as they seek to hold off the Falcons.

Second- (and Third- and Fourth-) Chance Quarterbacks – A matchup featuring the quarterback duo of Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold is a double shot of redemption arcs. Mayfield and Darnold were the first and third-overall picks in the 2018 draft, respectively, the former by the Browns and the latter by the Jets, but neither got to finish what they started in their first NFL homes. Mayfield was sent to Carolina after four years in Cleveland following the infamous Deshaun Watson trade. That situation didn't pan out and he was released later in the 2022 season and picked up by the Rams for a brief cameo before hitting free agency. He signed what was essentially a one-year prove-it deal by the Buccaneers, and the fit proved so perfect that he then received a much more lucrative multi-year deal to make Tampa his long-term home. Since joining the Buccaneers in 2023, Mayfield has thrown an NFL-leading 77 touchdowns, racked up nearly 10,000 passing yards, has a passer rating north of 100 over his first 38 games and has captured the hearts of his teammates and Tampa Bay fans everywhere. Darnold lasted even fewer years with his first team, as he was also traded by the Jets to Carolina after three years in New York. He and Mayfield were teammates in 2022 but neither held the starting job for long and Darnold left for San Francisco during the 2023 offseason. After one year as a backup for the 49ers, he signed in Minnesota, presumably to back up first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy but ended up starting all 17 games after McCarthy was injured in the preseason. Like Mayfield in Tampa, Darnold thrived in Minneapolis, leading the Jets to a 14-3 record and throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. With the Vikings expected to move on to McCarthy in 2025, Darnold signed with the Seahawks and is off to another strong start, with 905 yards, five touchdowns and the 106.5 passer rating noted above. Mayfield and Darnold will be trying to beat each other on Sunday, but they can surely appreciate each other's circumstances and the value of getting second, third and fourth chances in the NFL.

The Macdonald Challenge – No, it's not how many Big Macs you can eat in one sitting. It's the challenge of going up against the type of defense the Seahawks hoped they would be building when they hired former Baltimore Ravens Defensive Coordinator Mike Macdonald as their new head coach in 2024. Seattle's defense showed significant improvement in Macdonald's first year at the helm, improving 30th in yards allowed and 25th in points allowed the year before to 14th and 12th in 2024, and the early part of 2025 suggest things are going to be even better for the Seahawks in 2025. After four weeks, the Seahawks rank second in points allowed, 13th in yards allowed, third in yards per play, sixth in rushing yards allowed and third in interception rate. Macdonald's scheme relies heavily on split safeties and zone coverage, but cornerbacks Riq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon are strong man-to-man coverage players as well. The Seahawks blitz at a very low rate compared to the league average but still get a good amount of pressure on opposing passers. Through the first three weeks of the season, the Seahawks blitzed on 17.2% of opposing dropbacks (second fewest in the league) but still generated pressure on 44.3% of those plays (fourth highest in the league). In Week Four, the Buccaneers' offense managed to overcome a rash of injuries to put up a season-high 376 yards of offense, though 47.6% of those yards came on two very long touchdown passes by Baker Mayfield in the third quarter. Overall, the Buccaneers had difficulty getting separation with their receivers, as reflected in the 20 combined targets to Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka only resulting in seven completions. The Bucs will look to scheme more open men against a rising Seattle defense in Week Five.

A Special Focus – The Buccaneers got a disturbingly wide range of outcomes from their special teams snaps against the Eagles in Week Four. On the positive side, kicker Chase McLaughlin set a franchise record with a stunning 65-yard field goal and was also good from 58 and 42. In addition punt returner Kameron Johnson had 100 yards on six runbacks, including gains of 46 and 27 yards that got the ball across the midfield. On the negative side, the Buccaneers had a kick blocked for the third week in a row, this time a Riley Dixon punt that was rejected and returned for a touchdown just two minutes into the game. In addition, the Bucs' kickoff return unit failed to provide much running room, as Johnson and Sean Tucker combined for 96 yards on five carries and the team had an average kickoff drive start of only its 22. The negative outcomes are disappointing for a team that paid special attention to special teams when forming its 53-man roster, devoting multiple spots to players who would primarily contribute in that phase of the game. Head Coach Todd Bowles said the Bucs would look at "all avenues" to improve their results on special teams, stating, "Whether they block it from the outside or the inside, it can't happen. Those are things that cannot happen for us to have guys on our punt team that are here strictly for special teams."

Photos: ‘The Bucs at Fifty: A Photographic Retrospective’ Exhibit Opening

View photos of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' opening of 'The Bucs at Fifty: A Photographic Retrospective' gallery exhibit at Tampa Museum of Art. It consists of 100 images chronicling 5 decades, from our most iconic plays on the field to unseen behind-the-scenes moments. Our new exhibit is on view through Oct. 26 at the Tampa Museum of Art.

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TAMPA, FL - September 26, 2025 - VIP attendees during the opening of 'The Bucs at Fifty: A Photographic Retrospective' gallery exhibit at Tampa Museum of Art. Photo By Dave Pullis/Tampa Bay Buccaneers