Does Sam Darnold frighten you?
This is sort of a Lavonte David story without David being the focus of the story.
Not sure if fans have picked up on it through the years, but whenever David does interviews, especially with national media, he loves to talk about “attitude” and “mentality.” That’s a big theme for him.
Well, Seattle coach Mike MacDonald is an attitude and mentality kind of a guy. He comes from the Harbaugh tree (coached for both John in Baltimore and Jim at Michigan). MacDonald believes in old smashmouth football combined with a physical, stingy defense.
Well, that could be playing right into the Bucs’ hands.
Seattle is sixth in the league in rushing and averages 3.6 yards a carry. (The Bucs actually have more yards rushing and a better average but Joe has a hunch that’s because of Baker Mayfield.) But as Gene Deckerhoff would say, by golly, Seattle is going to run the ball come hell or murky water. Effectively? That’s another story.
The Bucs are fifth in both fewest total rushing yards allowed and average rushing yards per carry. And the Bucs are coming off a game in which they held the great Saquon Barkley to just 43 yards, the lowest total since Barkley joined the Eagles last season.
So, to Joe, this game comes down to one simple question:
Does San Darnold scare you?