For Bucs, a loss is a loss

Lost cause

Which is worse: to get blown out by five touchdowns or to cough up a 21-point lead and lose a heartbreaker in overtime?

The answer: What does it matter? A loss is a loss. And nobody does losses quite like the Bucs.

They ran the ball like crazy. They created turnovers. They scored points. They, at times, quieted the loudest building in the NFL.

So what, nobody cares and big deal.

No team worth a dime would be satisfied with merely coming close even if it was on the road against quite possibly the best team in football. Just because the Bucs are winless and just because this season has been a complete mess shouldn't mean Sunday was, in some way, something positive.

It was a loss. Period.

Biggest plays

A football game never is decided by one play, and you don't blow a 21-point lead on one play. In fact, the Bucs gave up big-chunk plays all game long.

Check out these ghastly numbers: The Seahawks had 19 plays that gained at least 10 yards — that doesn't count a pass interference call that went for 29 yards — and Marshawn Lynch had seven carries that went for at least 10 yards.

But the gut punch was allowing Golden Tate to break like 100 tackles and return a punt 71 yards to set up a key field goal in the second half. Someone explain again why you would kick the ball to this guy?

Key number

Again, Bucs quarterback Mike Glennon shows signs of getting a little better every week. He did a nice job making and extending plays with his feet, and he finished with decent totals: 17-for-23 for 168 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Still, that equals just 7.3 yards per attempt. You would prefer that number to be in the eights. The good news is Glennon didn't throw the ball 40-some times like in his first four starts.

Most missing

For those insisting the Bucs throw too much to Vincent Jackson, that was solved Sunday. Jackson caught two passes for 11 yards and was targeted only four times.

Three things that popped into my head

1. All of these personal fouls being called for ticky-tack touches to the head are getting out of hand. There's a difference between headhunting and brushing up against a player's helmet. I want to see players protected, but officials need to lighten up. Pretty soon, we're going to start penalizing defenders for giving quarterbacks a dirty look.

2. Having said that, didn't it appear as if on the Bucs' final drive of regulation, quarterback Mike Glennon took a pretty vicious hit to the head that would have meant a first down and put Tampa Bay in field goal range?

3. Ever notice how many times the officials at the game disagree with Fox's rules expert, Mike Pereira, who used to be the NFL's vice president of officiating? Pereira thought a call should have been overturned on replay Sunday, and it wasn't. That happens all the time, and usually, we agree with Pereira. What exactly are these officials looking at?

Final thought

I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news: The Bucs season is exactly half over.