Tom Brady fails as receiver in terrible Bucs playcall

Everything was going so well for Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. Coming off a dramatic last-second win last week over the defending Super Bowl champion Rams, Tampa Bay rolled into Munich for the NFL's first-ever game in Germany with heat. Through the first half of the game, Brady looked like the Touchdown Tom of old, and Tampa Bay looked ready to shake off the grime of their ugly first half of the season.

Brady staked the Bucs to a 14-0 lead over the Seattle Seahawks on two early possessions, and the Bucs looked more sleek and relentless than they have all season. Midway through the third quarter, Tampa Bay was mounting yet another drive deep into Seattle territory. Another touchdown would have extended the Bucs' lead to three possessions and all but ended the game.

And then, in one of the stranger play calls of the entire season, the Bucs lined up with Leonard Fournette at quarterback and Brady split wide. Usually in these situations, the quarterback is a decoy, but Fournette actually targeted the well-covered Brady. It, uh, did not go well:

Brady slipped before the ball even reached him, carving a deep divot in the Allianz Arena turf. That allowed cornerback Tariq Woolen to make perhaps the easiest interception he'll ever have. Brady compounded the catastrophe by attempting to trip Woolen, a perfect ending to a perfectly awful play.

Seattle capitalized on the unexpected momentum shift by crafting its best drive of the day, digging deep into Tampa Bay territory. But Geno Smith picked a bad moment to have a very bad moment, fumbling the ball on the Tampa Bay 13 and giving the ball — and the momentum — back to Tampa Bay. The Bucs wrapped the third quarter up 14-3 and driving away from the scene of a playcalling crime that could have been so much worse.

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Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.