Lavonte David Can Make His Case For NFC Defensive ROY

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers seldom get a chance to showcase themselves nationally.

They will have the supreme stage Thursday night when they take on the Minnesota Vikings in the Metrodome.

It’s the only game in town, or in this case, it’s the only game in the country! Huge chance for the Bucs to gain some respect and they haven’t garnered much of that this season. Their biggest moment came when coach Greg Schiano decided to attack Eli Manning and the Giants offense when it when into the game-ending “kneel-down” offense.

It sparked a national discussion and there was a sea of opinion both in favor of and critical of Schiano.

Now, the Bucs can perhaps get the national viewing audience to focus on some of their players who are in the midst of a nice season and one of those is rookie weak side linebacker Lavonte David. David leads the team in total tackles with 49 and has 39 solo stops. He’s a tackling machine.

David also has nine tackles for loss, getting to runners while they’re still in their own backfield. If he can do that against a beast like Adrian Peterson of the Vikings, well, perhaps he’ll jump into consideration for NFC Defensive Rookie of the Year. At the rate he’s going, he’s got a good chance at that honor.

Both he and Mason Foster have been tackling machines. Combined they have 97 total tackles.