Seahawks, Buccaneers, Oh My
This weekend’s Seattle-Tampa Bay game marks the 13th game between the two teams that joined the NFL as 1976 expansions. These were your grandfather’s expansion teams. They didn’t have the benefit of free agency to boost their rosters unlike modern expansions Carolina, Jacksonville, Houston and the Cleveland reboot. Whereas Carolina went 7-9 in its first season, Seattle was 2-12 while Tampa Bay went 0-14 and didn’t record its first win until December of its second season. The first of Seattle’s two wins in its first season came against Tampa Bay in a game that saw 35 penalties combined between the teams in a 13-10 decision. If you’re doing your math, you know that the two 1976 expansions won only one game against a previously existing NFL team. It was Seattle’s 30-13 win over Atlanta in the ninth week of 1976. The Falcons went 4-10 that year while their second-year quarterback, Steve Bartkowski, the No. 1 overall draft selection in 1975, was limited to five games. Seattle not only defeated Tampa Bay in the initial meeting, and in 1977, but, in 1978, became the first between the two teams to have a winning season. Though it appeared Seattle was the superior franchise, Tampa Bay was the first of the 1976 expansions to win a division title, go to the playoffs, win a playoff game, go to the Super Bowl, and win a Super Bowl game. The last time the Seahawks played the Buccaneers was in Seattle’s Super Bowl-winning season of 2013. They beat Tampa Bay in overtime, 27-24 in overtime, at CenturyLink Field in the first weekend of November. The Seahawks trailed 21-7 at halftime and 24-7 during the third quarter. Seattle forced overtime on a Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin.
