MUNICH — One play from the Bucs’ 21-16 win over the Seahawks showed that their run of bad offensive outings may be ending.
Rookie Rachaad White, who made his first start Sunday, broke through a huge hole over the left side as the third quarter wound down and was one-on-one with Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs.
Using his free arm, White angrily shoved Diggs to the turf like he was pushing a door open and picked up a few more yards before running out of bounds for a 29-yard gain.
Historically bad at running the football this season, the Bucs found their legs and they belonged to the first-year back from Arizona State, who finished with 22 carries for 105 yards.
The 87-yard drive in 11 plays ended with Tom Brady throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin to build a three-score lead in the first NFL regular-season game in Germany. It was the Bucs’ first win in an international game (1-4). Brady finished 22-of-29 for 258 yards, two TDs and one interception.
The Bucs entered the game averaging a league-worst 60.7 yards rushing per game. But they were determined to grind it out against the Seahawks.
Seattle didn’t make it easy. Geno Smith threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett with 8:20 to play in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion failed. On the next drive, however, Cody Barton intercepted Brady’s pass to give the Seahawks life.
Smith threw a 19-yard TD pass to Marquise Goodwin to cut the Bucs’ lead to 21-16 with 3:58 remaining.
But White helped close out the game by rushing 12 and 18 yards for first downs and forcing Seattle to use up its timeouts.
Brady, who became the first NFL player to win in four countries, received a huge ovation when he took the field for warmups and again when the starting offense was introduced.
After the national anthems for the U.S. and Germany, there was plenty of energy in the stadium.
Then the Bucs went three-and-out.
White, who got the start at tailback instead of Leonard Fournette, ran well in the first half, patiently waiting for holes to open. The Bucs rushed 10 times for 44 yards in the first quarter, a big improvement over the last eight weeks.
One drive fizzled with a holding penalty on guard Nick Leverett, forcing a 52-yard field goal attempt by Ryan Succop, who missed short and wide right.
But the Bucs defense did a good job of bottling up Seattle rookie running back Kenneth Walker III and consistently pressured Smith.
White ran it three times for 17 yards to get the next drive started. Brady fired to Mike Evans for a first down. Fournette banged it up inside twice for 14 yards.
Then Seattle somehow turned Julio Jones alone in the right flat and Brady found him for a 31-yard touchdown pass.
The Bucs made it 14-0 on their next drive, driving the football down the Seahawks’ throats for 86 yards on 13 plays. Again, the Bucs featured the run but Brady also connected with Scotty Miller for a couple first downs.
Fournette went virtually untouched on his 1-yard TD run.
By halftime, the Bucs’ 14-0 lead didn’t tell how dominant they were in the first half.
The Bucs held an edge in first downs (13-3), total yards (208-57) and time of possession (18:48-11:12). In fact the 57 total yards are the sixth-fewest allowed by any team this season.
The Seahawks were 0-for-5 on third down and Smith was sacked twice, including once by linebacker Devin White who was playing with a heavy heart. White pointed to the sky after the play. His 45-year-old father, Carlos Thomas, died Thursday.
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