Lavonte David has made countless big plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over 14 ultra-productive seasons, but maybe none as big as the one he turned in with less than a minute to play in what would prove to be a 38-35 walk-off win over the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on Sunday.
"The games we've had so far this year, as long as we have time on the clock we've got a chance, and our guys truly, truly believe that from the bottom of our hearts. That's a good feeling to have. And just guys executing, doing all the little things right. I know it was high-scoring but in the end it was complementary football that won us the game."
David's sliding interception of a Sam Darnold pass in Seattle territory set up Chase McLaughlin for the game-winning 39-yard field goal as time expired. Just moments earlier, QB Baker Mayfield had hit WR Sterling Shepard on an 11-yard touchdown pass to cap yet another clutch end-game drive that tied the game at 35-35. It was the 14th interception of David's illustrious career, to go with 40.5 sacks, 31 forced fumbles and 1,600-plus tackles.
Mayfield, who also threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to rookie WR Emeka Egbuka on third-and-15 in the third quarter, finished the game with 29 completions in 33 attempts for 379 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a 134.7 passer rating. His favorite target was Egbuka, who hauled in seven passes on seven targets for 163 yards and the touchdown. Egbuka also caught a 57-yard pass at the Seahawks' two-yard line that set up White's one-yard touchdown run that gave the Bucs a 28-21 lead. Egbuka now has five touchdown catches in his first five NFL games.
With the win, the Buccaneers improved to 4-1 on the season and increased their lead in the NFC South to 1.5 games over the idle Atlanta Falcons. All four of the Buccaneers wins have come on scores in the final minute of regulation.
"It says we've matured and we're finally playing 59 or 60 minutes," said Head Coach Todd Bowles of the repeated comebacks. "We've got some wins early; we've got to keep stacking them. They're hard to come by. We're playing good teams with injured guys all over the place and that those guys come here and win after a long plane ride says a lot about them."
In addition to Egbuka's performance, Mayfield got a lot of help from tight end Cade Otton (four catches for 81 yards), White (71 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns) and the team's other rookie receiver Tez Johnson. Johnson, who had one catch for eight yards in his first three games caught four passes for 59 yards and repeatedly picked up extra yards after the catch.
"Emeka had a homecoming today and he continues to amaze and compete and do the things that everybody's seen him do, like he did in college," said Bowles. "Again, he was outstanding. Tez, this was his coming-out party as well. He did some great things at receiver from a route-running standpoint. He's very polished, he's very quick."
White took over the lead role in the Bucs' backfield with Bucky Irving sidelined by foot and shoulder injuries. The fourth-year veteran ran 14 times for 49 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown that gave the Bucs a 13-0 lead in the second quarter, and caught four passes for 30 yards. His biggest play of the game may have been a 12-yard run on third-and-seven after David's interception that not only allowed the Bucs to run out the clock but also gave McLaughlin a shorter kick to win it.
"I thought Rachaad did a heck of a job understanding what was going on in the game," said Bowles. "Again, we practice all this stuff and everybody was very in-tune with everything that was happening. He played a tough game, he had some good blocks, he had some good plays on screens. He punched it in down there. Bucky and Rachaad are 1A and 1B; we don't have a number two. He was number-one by himself today. He's done it before and he did it again."
The Buccaneers scored a touchdown on three of their five second-half possessions and, after settling for two early field goals, were able to convert four red zone trips into touchdowns. In their previous two games, the Bucs had only gone one-for-seven in touchdowns on red zone possessions.
Before David's big play, the Buccaneers almost got a game-changing play from another defender. After Tampa Bay had pinned the Seahawks at their own one-yard line in the fourth quarter of a 28-28 tie, OLB Yaya Diaby jumped a shallow route and got his hands on a Sam Darnold pass as he stood on the goal line, only to have it bounce off and go to WR Cooper Kupp for a first down. The Seahawks then completed a 99-yard touchdown drive that put the home team up by seven with just over three minutes to play. Mayfield responded with a five-play, 70-yard game-tying drive that ended in an 11-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard and featured big catches from Egbuka and Otton.
Mayfield and Darnold squared off in a meeting of the first and third-overall picks in the 2018 draft, both on their fourth teams. Darnold had a big day as well, completing 28 of 34 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns. Like Mayfield and Egbuka, Darnold has another former Ohio State star as his top target, as he completed eight passes for 132 yards and a touchdown to third-year man Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
"That's a really good football team that we just played," said Mayfield. "Our defense had a couple opportunities for turnovers there early on, didn't capitalize, but obviously Lavonte there at the end making sure he seals the game for us."
David led the Bucs' defense with nine tackles to go with his interception but the Buccaneers did not sack Darnold once on the day. They did supply some well-timed pressure on the pass that ended up in David's hands.
"We were saving that blitz for a rainy day," said Bowles. "We brought it out. We've been running it a lot but we didn't run it the entire game. Everybody was waiting on it and it finally came, and "Te" made the veteran play that he made. It was a heck of a ballgame, and for our leader to step up and make that play was huge."
The Buccaneers took a 13-7 lead into halftime in what was a statistically even first half. Both teams had 11 first downs and three third-down conversions, and the Bucs had 151 total yards to the Seahawks' 152. The one takeaway of the first half benefited Tampa Bay, as did a missed field by the Seahawks, but Seattle avoided being blanked at the intermission with a two-minute drill that ended on Darnold's six-yard touchdown pass to Smith-Njigba with six seconds left. The Seahawks then doubled down to start the second half, driving 77 yards on four plays to take their first lead of the game on a Zach Charbonnet five-yard touchdown run.
Kam Johnson had trouble fielding the game-opening kickoff had to down it into the end zone, the type of touchback that only comes out to the 20-yard line. White's first down carry lost a yard but Mayfield found Godwin on a curl down the left numbers for a gain of 13. Mayfield faked a handoff on first down, rolled left and got off a deep lob to TE Cade Otton for 26 yards into Seattle territory. One screen and one handoff to White gained a total of nine yards, and when he got the handoff on third-and-one he saw his original path blocked and bounced over right tackle to get three and a first down at the 29. Under pressure, Mayfield got off another pass over the middle to Cotton for 12 yards, but an outlet pass to Tucker lost four yards. After a scramble that led to a quick five-yard pass to WR Sterling Shepard on the sideline, the Bucs faced third-and-nine. Mayfield had to scramble up the middle but he came up four yards short and the Bucs sent out Chase McLaughlin for a 30-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Seattle's first drive started on their own 29. The Seahawks' first play was a diving catch by Kupp, followed by Walker getting around right edge for 14 more. Two snaps later, a holding penalty on rookie G Grey Zabel put Seattle in a second-and-18, and Walker's second run only gained two yards. A 13-yard slant pass to WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba left the Seahawks three yards shy of the sticks and Jason pushed his 44-yard field goal attempt wide left.
The Bucs took over at their 34 and Mayfield tried another rollout pass to Otton down the left numbers but it was broken up. White got six yards up the middle on second down, and Mayfield escaped a near sack and made a sharp cut to the middle on his scramble to get eight yards and a first down. Two plays later, a perfectly thrown deep out to Egbuka beat strong coverage from CB Derion Kendrick for a first down at the Seattle 42. A roughing-the-passer flag on DT Byron Murphy two plays later gave the Bucs another first down and another Mayfield scramble got four yards to the 20 as the first quarter came to an end. A screen to White left the Bucs needing four more but Godwin bobbled the ball on a quick out and the Bucs had to settle for three again, this time on a McLaughlin 36-yarder.
Seattle got the ensuing kickoff out to their 27 and Darnold immediately found Smith-Njigba on an in-breaker for 12 yards. CB Jacob Parrish was flagged for pass interference covering Smith-Njigba for another 12 yards, but RB Zach Charbonnet lost two yards on first down and a hard hit by S Antoine Winfield Jr. broke up a pass to Smith-Njigba. A shovel pass to Walker that would have been good for a first down was erased on an ineligible-man-downfield penalty. An outlet pass to Charbonnet got 12 of the 17 yards needed on third down but Seattle sent out the punt team and Kam Johnson fair-caught Michael Dickson's kick at the six-yard line.
A handoff and a pass to Tucker resulted in a net loss of two yards. Mayfield threw a tunnel screen to WR Sterling Shepard on third down but it wasn't close to moving the sticks and the Bucs had to punt it back. Riley Dixon's kick rolled to a stop at the Seattle 41 with nine minutes left in the half.
Darnold threw horizontally to Smith-Njigba on first down and the play was good for four yards, but a toss-sweep right by Walker only picked up two. Darnold's quick pass to Kupp on third down was just enough to keep the drive alive, putting the ball just over midfield. A scrambling strike to TE AJ Barner gained 10 more to the 38. The Seahawks brought in rookie QB Jalen Milroe for the next play but it went poorly as he ran left and then pitched the ball on an option to Walker. The ball was behind Walker, who couldn't corral it, and Smith fell on the loose ball for the game's first takeaway.
The Bucs' offense came back on the field, starting at its own 41, and Mayfield immediately found Egbuka in a hole in the zone on the sideline for a gain of 24. A tricky end-around to Shepard that featured a pitch behind his back by Mayfield was no good, with Shepard losing five yards. It was third-and-long after a one-yard Mayfield scramble, and Otton made a fantastic catch-and-run on third down to get 17 and a first down at the Seattle 22. WR Tez Johnson made six yards out of nothing with several sharp cuts on a first-down catch, and a late-developing screen to White worked perfectly to earn a first down at the seven. White then took a pitch left and picked through traffic to find the end zone. The extra point put the Bucs up 13-0 just before the two-minute warning.
Dareke Young gave the Seahawks great field position for a two-minute drill, finding the right sideline and streaking all the way to the Seattle 46. OLB Haason Reddick got quick pressure on Darnold to force a hurried incompletion as the two-minute warning arrived. Two plays later, on third-and-six, Kupp made a dazzling catch over the middle on a dig to get six yards. After a crossing route to WR Tory Horton was good for 11 more to the Bucs' 33 with 53 seconds left, the Seahawks used their first timeout. A powerful bull-rush by NT Vita Vea forced Darnold off his spot and his running pass to Kupp was broken up by Smith. LB SirVocea's quick tackle on Kupp on the next play left the home team in a third-and four and the Seahawks called another time at the 36-second mark. A quick stop to TE Elijah Arroyo got 10 and a first down, and a pass over the middle to Barner took it down to the six, where the Seahawks quickly got to the line and ran a play. Darnold was on target to Horton on a goal-line out but CB Zyon McCollum got a hand in the way at the last second. The Seahawks used their last timeout with nine seconds on the clock. Darnold found Smith-Njigba between defenders in the end zone to put Seattle on the board.
Good coverage on the opening kickoff of the second half put Seattle at its 23 to start the first possession. Two plays into the drive, Darnold scrambled left and threw a desperation lob up that Young caught over Parrish for a gain of 36. Walker got free around right end on the very next snap and only Smith pushing him out of bounds at the five saved a touchdown. It didn't save it for long, as Charbonnet powered over right tackle on the next snap for the go-ahead score.
Rookie RB Josh Williams only got out to the Bucs' 23 on the following kickoff. A tunnel screen to Godwin didn't produce the results that play often does, with a gain of just two to start the Bucs' first drive of the half. A sideline pass to Shepard left the Bucs in third-and-four and Godwin moved the chains with a quick curl on the left side for 11. Tez Johnson's second catch gave him room to run and he dashed for a gain of nine yards and a hesitation on a second-and-one handoff to White worked as a seam opened for him to gain nine more to the Seattle 42. Mayfield had a lot of time to throw on first down and eventually found Johnson for a 27-yard completion. Tucker got three yards on a sweep right but an attempted screen to White was blown up for a loss of eight. That made it third-and-15, but Mayfield converted that and more with a 20-yard strike to Egbuka in the back of the end zone. Mayfield also went to Egbuka on an out for a successful two-point conversion to give the Bucs a 21-14 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter.
A long return on the ensuing kickoff was negated by a holding call, putting Seattle at its own 20 on the next possession. Darnold went back to Smith-Njigba for 11 yards on a slant to start things off, then found Barner again for nine more. He then went for the deep shot, and even though Winfield was right on Smith-Njigba the receiver was able to locate the ball for a 53-yard gain to the Bucs' seven. Two Walker runs made it third-and-goal at the two, and a long-developing play ended in Darnold finding Barner wide open in the back of the end zone for the game-tying score.
Williams was stopped dead in his tracks at the Bucs' 25 on the following kickoff return. Mayfield threaded the needle down the right numbers to start the drive with a 19-yard strike to Egbuka. Tucker got the ball on the next two plays for a total of three yards. On third-and-seven, Mayfield found Godwin just past the sticks but the play came back on an illegal formation penalty. So Mayfield decided to air it out even farther on third-and-12, unleashing a high arcing throw that found Egbuka at the Seattle two-yard line. After an unnecessary roughness penalty on a first-down run, it was first-and-goal for the Bucs and White took a pitch left and easily made it around the corner. The Bucs lead was once again seven, 28-21, with 19 seconds left in the third quarter.
Yet another long kickoff return followed for Seattle, and this one was not erased by a penalty, as Young dashed all the way to the Seahawks' 49-yard line. An eight-yard run around right end by Charbonnet brought the third quarter to a close. Darnold scrambled right on the first play of the fourth period for an apparent first down but it came back on a holding call, making it second-and-12. Then came an apparent interception of a deflected pass by Winfield that was also erased by a penalty. All of that added up to a first down for Seattle at the Bucs' 48, and two Charbonnet runs tacked on 11 yards to the 37. Seattle was then flagged for 12 men in the huddle, backing the offense up five yards, and LB SirVocea Dennis reacted quickly to an outlet pass to Walker, stopping him for no gain. Barner made a sliding catch on a running throw by Darnold to make it third-and-five at the Bucs' 33, and Smith-Njigba made another remarkable sideline catch in tight coverage to create a first down at the 21. Moments later, the Seahawks faced a third-and-two and Charbonnet got that and five more to make it first-and-goal at the six. Barner caught an out shy of the goal and threw off a defender to walk in for another touchdown and another tie, 28-28, with just under 10 minutes left in regulation.
Williams found a little more room to run on his next kickoff return, getting back to the Bucs' 35-yard line. Mayfield started the march out by finding Tez Johnson wide open in a hole in the zone for 17 yards. White fought through several defenders on a well-timed screen left to get 14 more to the Seattle 34. However, a blitz by the Seahawks produced a nine-yard sack two plays later, making it third-and-17, and Shepard couldn't quite haul in a downfield pass on the left sideline. The Bucs brought on the punt team from the Seattle 41 and CB Josh Hayes was able to down it at the Seattle one-yard line with 7:20 to go.
Charbonnet pushed for two yards on first down. On second down, Diaby jumped a route and got his hands on the ball at the goal line but it bounced off and fluttered to Kupp, who got nine yards and a first down at the 11. Walker then broke into the second level on a run up the middle and got 22 yards to the 34. That was followed by a 22-yard completion to Smith-Njigba that had a roughing the passer the call tacked on the end, taking it all the way to the Bucs' 29. Seattle faced a third-and-two moments later, the Seahawks threw incomplete, then went for it on fourth down. Darnold was nearly sacked but he bought just enough time to find Horton for a 21-yard go-ahead score.
Mayfield and the Buccaneers answered right back, driving 70 yards on five plays, including completions of 25 yards to both Egbuka and Otton. . Another Egbuka nine-yard grab got the ball to the 11 and then Mayfield found Shepard in the back of the end zone for the game-tying touchdown.
Seattle still had a minute left and all of its timeouts when it got the ball back in a 35-35 tie. However, two plays in the drive, David read a pass over the middle to Kupp and made a sliding interception at the Seattle 38. The Bucs ran White up the middle twice to burn Seattle's timeouts, but White then made a huge play by bouncing a handoff around the right edge and gaining 12 yards, sliding to the ground inbounds to keep the clock moving. One kneel-down killed Seattle's last timeout and McLaughlin came on to calmly kick the 39-yard game-winner as time expired.
