Plan gone wrong: Seahawks defense didn’t expect Buccaneers run game in Munich

The Seahawks’ plan for their visit to Germany was better than their plan for the game here.

They explored the Marienplatz, the historic old-town part of Munich. They practiced next to and visited with Alphonso Davies and his FC Bayern Munich teammates at the European soccer power’s training center.

They did as coach Pete Carroll had promised last week when he said: “The last thing that we are going to do is diminish the fun part of it. We are going to enjoy the heck out of it.”

Until the game began Sunday.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the NFL’s first regular-season game in Germany the league’s last-ranked rushing offense. They were averaging just over 60 yards on the ground on 20 rushes per game.

So that’s what Carroll, defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt and the Seahawks game-planned for: minimal, inconsequential running with Tom Brady having to throw the Buccaneers into Sunday’s game.

Seattle’s formula during the four-game winning streak it brought into Bavaria was to make opposing offenses one-dimensional. Take away the run by freeing their defensive linemen from gap responsibilities and attacking more. Force foes to pass. Tee off on quarterbacks with carefree pass rushing on obvious throwing downs with so many third and longs.

Against Tampa Bay, Seahawks figured they didn’t have to make their foe one-dimensional. The Buccaneers already were.

Carroll and Hurtt were so confident rush defense wouldn’t be an issue they decided to leave run-stuffing tackle Bryan Mone a healthy inactive Sunday.

Then the game began at Allianz Arena.

Bucs run at light front

Tampa Bay attacked Seattle, which used two and three true defensive linemen, by running directly at them. The Seahawks started off with two linemen and outside linebackers Uchenna Nwosu and Bruce Irving with them on the line’s edge. Then they went to more of their “Bear front,” three defensive linemen jammed inside over the opposing center and two guards.

Tampa Bay rookie Rachaad White and veteran Leonard Fournette romped past that scheme, too.

As the Buccaneers kept running, Seattle’s 35-year-old nose tackle Al Woods had to stay in the game. He played a season-high 61% of defensive snaps.

Myles Adams was active for only the fifth time in 10 games. He played more nose against Tampa Bay than he’d been playing as a more two-gap lineman. He played 21 snaps, after being a healthy scratch the previous two games.

In scheme and personnel, the Seahawks were not prepared for what the Buccaneers did.

“They came out and broke some tendencies,” Seattle Pro Bowl safety Quandre Diggs said after his team fell behind 14-0 quickly, then 21-3 in the fourth quarter of a 21-16 loss. “They ran the ball more than they have in the past.”

Much more.

Tampa Bay eclipsed its season averages for running plays and yards by the second quarter. White romped for 105 yards, more than double his previous career high. That included a 29-yard run on which he sent Diggs hard into Bayern Munich’s loose grass pitch with a nasty stiff arm.

It was one of White’s seven runs on an 11-play drive to Tampa Bay’s clinching touchdown: Brady’s 4-yard pass to Chris Godwin on which officials picked up a penalty flag for offensive pass interference away from the throw.

Tampa Bay led 21-3 early in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks were in desperation mode after that.

“Tampa Bay did what they wanted to do, particularly early in the game. They were able to keep us off-balance,” Carroll said. “We have not been like that for a while.

“I was really disappointed. They have not been running the ball very consistently. So coming into the game, we were hoping we could just keep it under wraps and be able to deploy for the throwing game.

“They did better than we thought they would.”

So much better.

The Buccaneers ran 44 times in all for 161 yards. That’s 100 more yards than they’d been running for coming in. Unlike Tampa Bay’s first nine games, Brady’s throws were based off the run, not because the Bucs couldn’t run.

“It kind of gets you out of whack when you prepare for them to throw the ball a little bit more,” Diggs said. “They ran it really well today, so I don’t blame them for continuing to stick with the run game.

“We’ve just got to play our assignments better. At the end of the day, we’ve got to be better.”

As Diggs pointed out, the Bucs ran on first downs, second downs, all downs. They converted 10 of 15 third downs.

Seattle, conversely, was 1 for 9 on third down.

“That spells what happened in the game, our inability to function there,” Carroll said.

No, not according to plan.

“That’s another one of those things where I tell you they broke some tendencies where we get them stopped on one down, and they run it again on the next down,” Diggs said. “It was kind of different than what they’ve been doing in the past.”

An anomaly? Troubling Seahawks trend?

They thought they had this fixed.

But Sunday looked and felt like the Seahawks of September into October, when San Francisco, Atlanta and New Orleans ran at and over them. Seattle had the NFL’s worst rushing defense, worst defense overall and a 2-3 record back then.

The Giants entered Seattle last month with the league’s second-best rushing offense. They were fully committed to it. The Seahawks stopped it and New York in winning that game.

Tampa Bay reminded that if an offense keeps running at Seattle, even if it gets stopped, that may be the way to beat the Seahawks.

“Once it was working, they stuck with it,” linebacker Jordyn Brooks said of the Buccaneers. “That’s what it is in the league. We’ve just got to do a better job.”

Brooks said his defense wasn’t physical enough early in the game when Tampa Bay set its course to run and win.

Asked if his defense’s issues of missing run fits, gap responsibilities and tackling from September returned in Munich, Diggs didn’t really answer.

Maybe the captain of the defense didn’t want to.

“I just think with the, like I said, they broke some tendencies that we studied during the week. You’ve got to expect that with Tom. He’s managing the game, and he understands, and him and (Bucs offensive coordinator Byron) Leftwich have a good thing over there.

“I just think at the end of the day we’ve got to get some of that leaky yardage out. When we get the leaky yardage and we start stopping, and when we get them behind the sticks, we’ve got to get them behind the sticks and keep them behind the sticks.”

The Seahawks are 6-4, still in first place atop the NFC West by a half game over the 49ers (5-4). Seattle has its post-Europe bye this week. It hosts Las Vegas (2-7) Nov. 27, then plays at the falling Rams (3-6) and hosts Carolina (3-6) in its next three games.

“Everybody can be better. I think we all could be better,” Diggs said.

Or maybe it’s just what Carroll said on his way to the plane and 12 1/2-hour flight home into Seattle’s bye week.

“I would just say that it’s really hard to win them all,” the coach said, “to win every game.”