Buccaneers 38, Seahawks 35
SAM DARNOLD: Obviously a tough loss. You know, I thought in the first half being down 13-nothing the way that we kind of came back in that two-minute drill, scored, and then able to score right away coming out of the second half, it was awesome to see our offense do that.
To be able to just double them up right there in the middle eight was great.
And then, yeah, just the last turnover, definitely on me. I was just trying to throw it away. I think it might have deflected off a helmet. Once I saw it was going to be hot to my left I just tried to throw it away, and I think it deflected off somebody's helmet.
Yeah, at the end of the day I got to protect the football in that situation and can't give them a short field to put the game away like that. Also want to give credit to those guys, Tampa Bay. They're a tough team. Every game they're in I feel like they fight until the very end, so you got to give them a lot of credit.
Q. Sam, does this feel like you guys had one in your grasp and you let it get away?
SAM DARNOLD: For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think being up late the way that we were, the way our offense was rolling, too, the confidence I have in our offense in two-minute situations even with them tying it at the end there, I felt like we could go down and put Jason Myers in a position to be able to win the game there.
So that was disappointing for sure. But at the end of the day that's football. We're going to look at it. We're going to look at the tape, grow from it, and just continue to get better.
Q. Outside of the late mistake, do you feel like that was as complete a performance as you've had offensively this season?
SAM DARNOLD: I don't know. I got to look at it. You know, it was -- the first half could have been a lot better. Obviously second half we were rolling pretty good, put some good drives together.
Again, that first half, to not score until the two-minute drive, we got to be better there.
Q. AJ Barner had got four touchdowns, three in the last two games. What makes him a good red zone weapon for you?
SAM DARNOLD: He's just a good player. I think flat out he's a really good player. Just got to continue to -- for me I'm just going to continue to go through my progressions and the ball is going to find whoever the progression tells me to go to.
Q. They had no sacks today in this game. Offensive line seemed like they were really in control. Everybody knows Todd Bowles like to bring a lot of extra pressure. How do you feel about the way those guys were able to -- you had extended time back there to be able to make plays and get some of those downfield shots?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, for sure. I think the times that they did pressure I felt like our offensive line, tight ends, running backs did a really good job picking it up.
I guess that's why I'm so disappointed in the last play, because I saw that look during practice a couple times. You know, had an opportunity to do something else with the protection. But at the end of the day, like I said, that's football. Yeah, I always give a lot of credit to whenever we go against Tampa, Coach Bowles and his staff and those -- the players on defense. Man, they do a really good job of making their scheme come to life with all the pressures and the coverages they play behind it.
Q. In terms of doing something different on the final play, you're saying it's not necessarily about what happened post-snap, you're saying you could have done something pre-snap?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah. Yeah, felt like I could have changed the protection and just, yeah, been aware of if they're bringing it t- the other side; I had a good answer to that side, and I think Tory was open as well on the right side.
So I just got to be a lot better there pre-snap and -- yeah, leave it at that.
Q. Take us through Tory's touchdown.
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, fourth and short I think. Just, you know, love the aggression there by Coach Mike and obviously Klint. You know, just going through my progression, and late in the down just scrambling. Tory ended up being wide open, and I was trying not to throw him out of bounds, trying to put it on his back shoulder a little bit so he could turn up and get in the end zone.
Q. Was the protection in the play you went with on the last snap, was that one of the protections you had practiced?
SAM DARNOLD: Yes.
Q. And you had alternatives you said?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah. No, I feel like that was bad quarterback play on that last snap.
Q. What's this take you guys to put this behind you and bounce back?
SAM DARNOLD: Yeah, we got to look at the tape, grow, get better. It's the same thing I would say after a win. Just got to continue to look at ourselves in the mirror and see how we can grow, get better, how our process can be a little bit better throughout the week, and then move on and get ready for Jacksonville.
Q. I think between this, Arizona, and the Niners you've had three game winning or potential game-winning opportunities. Just looking at those three, anything that stands out to you?
SAM DARNOLD: No. I think like I said, after the Arizona game I think we practice it so much, so I think with all that practice you have all the reps and different looks, especially going against Coach Mike's defense throughout camp, through OTAs; he's going to give us so many looks in two-minute so we're ready for every thing. Yeah, just like I said, got to be better in the last drive.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports