Seahawks vs Buccaneers Had a Lot of Local Connections

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Tampa Bay have to be kicking themselves. They could have won a big game, in terms of their season and in general. They could have started to turn the season around and begin building positives heading into next year. You know a team is struggling when this happens.

Struggling aside, you should see the number of connections Tampa has with the Seahawks. It’s much more than your average one guy who is from Seattle or went to school in the state.

1. Mason Foster. Foster was a four-year starter at UW and earned All-American and All-Pac-10 honors at linebacker in 2010. He was drafted in the third round by the Bucs and has become a constant starter on defense.
2. Daniel Te’o Nesheim. Another third round pick out of UW, Te’o-Nesheim was picked by the Eagles in 2010, a year before Foster came out. After being waived by Philly, the former Husky defensive end has found a home in Tampa where he registered a career high four sacks last season. He also went to high-school with current Seahawks’ center Max Unger.
3. Rian Lindell. The first of two special-teamers from the Evergreen State, Lindell  went to Wazzu and has enjoyed a long NFL career, three years of which were spent with the Seahawks. Lindell is likely best known for his decade-long tenure in Buffalo.
4. Michael Koenen. Koenen is one of the few professional football players who can say he outlived his football program. That’s right, Koenen went to Western. Or as it’s called everywhere outside of Washington state, Western Washington. Koenen was Atlanta’s punter before moving across the NFC South in 2011.He is from Ferndale.
5. Danny Gorrer was a member of the Seahawks in 2012 before being claimed on waivers by his current employer, Tampa Bay.
6. Dashon Goldson did not play in the game due to injury, but the ex-Husky is widely considered one of the better safeties in the league. After the Legion of Boom’s safeties of course.

If you want to expand “local” to Idaho and Oregon, running back Doug Martin went to Boise State while defensive end Adam Hayward is a product of Portland State.

Throw in Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon’s time together at NC State (don’t forget JR Sweezy!) and Richard Sherman and Darrell Revis’ suddenly cordial rivalry, and you had a lot of material for the Fox crew calling the game to talk about.