Seahawks vs. Buccaneers: Our staff sees a mostly sunny outcome

The 6-2 Seahawks play the 2-5 Buccaneers on Sunday. Who will win? This is what our staff thinks will occur in week nine of the 2019 season.

The Seahawks are 6-2 but have barely beaten some bad teams. Tampa Bay is 2-5 but blew out the Rams. This is the NFL so anything can happen. What will happen this Sunday when Seattle plays the Buccaneers? Here is our staff’s best guesses.

Colby Patnode, contributor and host of the 12th Man Rising podcast

The Seahawks should win this game but it’ll be way closer than it should be. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin should both cleanup against this secondary and Tampa is actually great against the run.

The script basically writes itself: the Seahawks continue to run into a brick wall for 3 quarters, and then in the 4th and only when they have no other option do they unleash Russell Wilson and hope he can pick apart this terrible Bucs pass defense.

Old pals Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles will have a good game plan as well. So why pick Seattle? Jameis Winston is terrible. Hes gonna throw for 350 but miss on key third downs and turn it over a few times, giving Seattle the win they need.

Prediction: Seahawks 23 Buccaneers 21

Geoff Shull, contributor

This week’s matchup pairs two QBs on the opposite spectrum of the sport. One is ultra-efficient with a consistent product week in, week out. The other is sporadic with spurts of turnover issues and spurts of domination. The battle between the Seahawks and Buccaneers could prove to be either a struggle or a defensive confidence boost before facing the 49ers next week in a divisional heavyweight match. I predict the Seahawks defense will be up to the challenge and dominate that side of the ball. Marquise Blair and Shaquill Griffin will each get their first interception of the season and Jadeveon Clowney will record 1.5 sacks. I don’t think the game will be a blow out however, with the Buccaneers having only lost by more than 1 score once this season, against the 49ers in a game that ended 17-31.

Prediction: Seahawks 31 Buccaneers 24

Todd Vandenberg, co-expert

To be honest –  and if I can’t be honest with the 12s, who can I be honest with – the Buccaneers scare me. Tampa Bay isn’t a very good team, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a dangerous team. Ask the Rams how those 55 points the Bucs hung on them tasted. Bitter, man, bitter.
The Seahawks have to get pressure on quarterback Jameis Winston. He’s erratic enough to make his own mistakes, but I’d be more comfortable if Jadeveon Clowney and Jarran Reed have their hands in his face for most of the game. The Bucs defense is solid against the run, so the Seahawks have to unleash Russell Wilson. I’m not saying they should abandon the run, as Chris Carson helps set up all those lovely open routes, but the Hawks can’t just pound the ball on the ground all day. I think they’ll open up the attack a bit, and bombard the Buccaneers.

Prediction: Seahawks 33 Buccaneers 20

Lee Vowell, co-expert

I hate to pick the Seahawks because I jinx them. Last week Seattle won and I picked them to win because of who they were playing and still the game ended up closer than expected. The Buccaneers will run blitz a ton and are good at shutting down the opponents running game. Will Wilson be able to stay upright and complete enough downfield passes to allow Seattle to win? I can’t see Brian Schottenheimer abandoning the run so Wilson will get few chances again to be the difference in the game. Do I think Seattle has more overall talent than the Bucs? Yes. But Seattle will struggle with pass rush again and be too stubborn to stop running the ball.

Prediction: Buccaneers 27 Seahawks 20