On Wednesday, Joe asked Baker Mayfield a question that had more to do with Sunday’s Seahawks game than all the boorish Eagles fans that invaded The Licht House the previous Sunday.

Joe asked Mayfield if the Bucs had to go to a silent snap count on their home turf against Philly.

Mayfield’s answer was, “No.”

It was good to know all those Eagles fans didn’t affect the Bucs’ offense, though Dallas Goedert would disagree. But Joe sort of was hoping the Bucs did need a silent snap count to prepare them for the noise cauldron in Seattle on Sunday.

Joe thought that experience against Philly would help the makeshift offensive line, a line that had a mess of penalties in Week 3 against the Jets.

Well, the Bucs went to Seattle and played a clean game. There were few penalties and the offense was on fire in a situation that would have seen past Bucs team sputter through false starts and timing hiccups on the O-line.

Speaking on the Buccaneers Radio Network, center Graham Barton was admiring his teammates’ work.

“Like days like yesterday, when you go up to a place that’s that loud and you don’t have any communication breakdowns, and you don’t really have any pre-snap penalties, and you score 38 points when you are literally using nonverbal communication all day in every facet, is pretty, pretty satisfying,” Barton said. 

Amen!

Joe gives a ton of credit to rookie offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard. A bunch of rookie playcallers are struggling around the NFL. Grizzard is thriving under a lot of adversity.

Dropping 38 on Seattle in their crib isn’t luck. It hadn’t happened since a Seahawks overtime loss to the Raiders in 2022.

As for the Bucs needing a silent count at home because of visiting fans, yeah, it has happened.

Consider the haunting words of former Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter, when he joined the Ira Kaufman Podcast during The Lost Decade.

“The first year I was here, and we played a couple of those teams, from the northeast, the traditional teams that travel well, I mean, we had to go to silent count in our own home stadium, and that’s just not right,” Koetter said.

… …”The organization, the fans and the team has to play better, ok. Any time I start talking too much about my role with the fans, they’re going slap me right back down to earth. And there’s always going to be a bunch of people on JoeBucsFan telling, ‘Hey, Dirk, worry about coaching the team.’ And I get that; that’s my ultimate job. But I’m always looking to give us every advantage we can get because it’s all about winning. I’m worrying about motivating my team, but I want the fans’ help. Because we need the home field advantage.”