The Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked better offensively on Sunday than they have throughout most of the season, but one of their drives came to an abrupt halt because of a terrible play call.
The Bucs had a 14-3 lead late in the third quarter and drove the ball deep into Seattle Seahawks’ territory. Tom Brady was in a great rhythm with his wide receivers when offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich decided to call a trick play. Brady lined up wide left as a receiver on 1st-and-10. Leonard Fournette took a direct snap in the wildcat formation and tried to float a pass to Brady. It was underthrown and led to an easy interception for cornerback Tariq Woolen.
You can see the play below:
Okay, what just happened?! 👀
Fournette was aiming for Brady, but @_Tariqwoolen intercepts it! #Seahawks
📺: #SEAvsTB on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/M32DOvVAld pic.twitter.com/xEIpUusNmM— NFL (@NFL) November 13, 2022
To make matters worse, Brady was called for tripping on the play. That gave the Seahawks better field position.
Leftwich was eventually bailed out by Tampa Bay’s defense. The Seahawks drove into the red zone before Geno Smith fumbled and the Bucs recovered.
The Buccaneers have been terrible on offense for most of the season. Brady even raised some concerning questions about his teammates this week. That is probably why Leftwich came into the game trying to be more creative, but there was no need to call a trick play in that situation with the way the offense was humming.
