TAMPA, Fla. – Josh Freeman kept Tampa Bay's playoff hopes alive with a near flawless performance.
The second-year pro threw for 237 yards and a career-best five touchdowns Sunday, helping the Bucs stay in the hunt with a 38-15 rout of the struggling Seattle Seahawks.
Kellen Winslow and rookie Mike Williams each had a pair of TD receptions for the Bucs (9-6), who guaranteed themselves a winning record after going 3-13 a year ago in their first season under coach Raheem Morris.
Seattle (6-9) played most of the game without injured quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and lost for the seventh time in nine games.
Amazingly, the Seahawks can still win the NFC West — thus earning a playoff spot with a losing record — by beating the first-place St. Louis Rams (7-8) at home next Sunday.
The Bucs remain in contention with the Saints, Giants and Packers for two NFC wild-card berths. They close the regular season at New Orleans, and will need to defeat the defending Super Bowl champions as well as get outside help to grab a postseason spot.
LeGarrette Blount had his fourth 100-yard game rushing, finishing with 164 yards that included highlight-reel bursts of 48 yards in which the 250-pound rookie hurdled would-be tackler Lawyer Milloy and a 53-yarder that set up Tampa Bay's last touchdown.
Freeman completed 21 of 26 passes with no interceptions. His five TD passes — giving him 23 vs. just six interceptions this season — tied a franchise record set by Steve DeBerg in 1987 and matched by Brad Johnson in 2002.
Winslow caught TD passes of 10 and 21 yards, the latter capping a 10-play, 98-yard drive that matched another team record. Williams scored on catches of 7 and 20 yards, giving him a club rookie-record 10 touchdowns.
Freeman left the game after tossing his final TD pass, a 2-yarder to Maurice Stovall midway through the fourth quarter.
With St. Louis (7-8) defeating San Francisco 25-17 to take sole possession of first place in the NFC West earlier Sunday, the Seahawks took the field knowing that a win or a loss against the Bucs would not affect their chances of making the playoffs.
Seattle will host the Rams in next week's regular season finale, with the winner claiming the division title.
The Seahawks lost Hasselbeck to hip injury suffered while the 35-year-old quarterback was rolling out of the pocket to his right and scoring on a 1-yard TD run in which he went into the end zone untouched with 2:50 remaining in the opening quarter.
The 12th-year pro bent over for a moment, started to walk off the field and then stopped again before sitting down in the end zone.
Hasselbeck, benched the previous week after turning the ball over three times in the third quarter of a lopsided loss to Atlanta, eventually limped to the sideline under his own power. Charlie Whitehurst replaced him on Seattle's next possession, with the Seahawks leading 7-3.
Tampa Bay scored on three consecutive possessions to take control. Micheal Spurlock's 80-yard kickoff return set up Connor Barth's 46-yard field goal, and Freeman threw TD passes to Winslow and Williams the next two times the Bucs had the ball.
Whitehurst came off the bench to lead one long touchdown drive in the Seahawks' 34-18 loss to the Falcons, but he had little success against a Tampa Bay defense had not played particularly well the past month.
Hasselbeck's backup went 11 of 18 for 66 yards and was sacked three times. The Seahawks scored on Leon Washington's 16-yard run and a 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter, but finished with just 174 yards of total offense.
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