Mourning his father, Verner helps Bucs defeat Seahawks

They both put it on themselves, albeit for different reasons.

Winston took advantage, leading TD drives of 78 and 62 yards on Tampa Bay’s first two possessions. The Jaguars (2-9) lost for the sixth straight game, their longest skid since opening the 2014 season at 0-6. But the sheer overreaction by most of the fan base is simply unwarranted. I saw Derrick Brooks down there on the sideline right before the game.

“They rushed the heck out of us”, Carroll said.

Sure, every team deals with injuries. Cliff Avril has had a Pro Bowl-caliber season off the edge. Finally, the night game featured Alex Smith reminding us over the first, oh, 58 minutes of what his pro career looked like before Jim Harbaugh entered his life, only for him to magically turn into Joe Montana -another 49er who was traded to the Chiefs- for the two-minute drill and the ensuing overtime to bury the Broncos.

The Seahawks (7-3-1) were limited to Steven Hauschka’s 43-yard field goal and a safety, awarded when Tampa Bay was penalized for holding while blocking for Winston in his end zone.

Willson’s injury can’t be minimized. “He handled the fronts, handled the calls, run blocked effectively, helped in pass protection”. Mariota, putting together one of the best seasons ever by a Titans quarterback, came through with another solid performance. That’s cute and everything, but he’s wrong.

“Sometimes you have to have a little struggle to overcome”, Wilson said.

We’ve seen the extremes of what this Seahawks offense is this year. One or two plays could have completely turned the game around.

The Saints just toyed with the Rams, putting an exclamation point on the win with a 50-yard pass from wideout Willie Snead to running back Tim Hightower.

OK, it only seems like that many on the Seahawks’ veteran wide receiver.

The Seahawks defense also came up big at the end of the first half when K.J. Wright was ruled to tackle tight end Cameron Brate inbounds, which allowed time to run out before the Bucs could stop the clock to get their field goal unit on. “He made so many sacrifices for me to get to where I am today, and I just know that he didn’t want to be the cause for me not to play”. There are no excuses!

“We couldn’t get out of our own way”, Ifedi said in the visitors’ locker room at Raymond James Stadium Sunday. Meanwhile, despite sounding remorseful about turning the ball over, Wilson refused to take back his end of game interception. “I think you can see a little bit of the wear and tear from last week.”. Perhaps some of them are, but not based exclusively on one game. The Buccaneers spent all afternoon storming Russell Wilson, who continues to be hung out to dry on a regular basis by his overmatched offensive line. Losses in the secondary likely will be more impactful.

It wasn’t just that his pass protection was so spotty. The Texans (6-5) lost in Houston for the first time this season after winning their first five here. When he only had a split second to make a decision, he made the wrong one. Brady threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns in the win as he became just the fifth quarterback in National Football League history with at least 60,000 passing yards. You get a chance to be more involved in the game.

Look, I’m not saying everything is rosy. They didn’t play well, certainly far below the standards of a team that still fancies itself as a Super Bowl contender.

“Really disappointed with our performance yesterday, from the top on down”, Carroll told reporters on Monday.

Despite only converting one of their 11 third downs and enduring constant quarterback pressure, they’re three avoidable turnovers away from a tie.

Will Gilliam stay on the bench Sunday when Seattle (7-3-1) returns home to face Carolina (4-7)?

Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack is making a pretty strong case for Defensive Player of the Year.