[Goose]

The trouble with that is Darnold is really good at escaping pressure/buying time for a play downfield.  I expect our defense to be disciplined and cover well, but there's only so much you can do the longer a play goes on.  Stanford may be better served going for coverage sacks rather than trying to flush him out of the pocket where he can run.  (Does he run a lot?  I didn't watch the Rose Bowl.)

Darnold is big and can run, but to his credit, he usually runs around in order to pass. Last year, he had an OL that was real good at continuing to play even after somebody got through. Darnold was great at finding the "sweet spot" where he still had protection. This year, that may not happen, as he has a lot of new linemen. Our DL may not need to get the initial pressure (which comes from the blitz), but they WILL need to keep playing and give Darnold no place to hide. Darnold can be pressured into bad decisions. That didn't happen often last year, but it did happen. Our blitz needs to make him throw early or get hit, and we need to tackle well.
He was calm in the pocket last year, but partly because he had great receivers that would eventually get open. The trouble with relying on "coverage sacks" is that if Darnold can extend the play, somebody will get open eventually. If we blitz, it has to be in order to force an early throw, which may be to the wrong team. Darnold hasn't had to deal with a "bad game", AFIK. If we get him to doubt, we win for sure.

[Goose]

The trouble with that is Darnold is really good at escaping pressure/buying time for a play downfield.  I expect our defense to be disciplined and cover well, but there's only so much you can do the longer a play goes on.  Stanford may be better served going for coverage sacks rather than trying to flush him out of the pocket where he can run.  (Does he run a lot?  I didn't watch the Rose Bowl.)

Darnold is big and can run, but to his credit, he usually runs around in order to pass. Last year, he had an OL that was real good at continuing to play even after somebody got through. Darnold was great at finding the "sweet spot" where he still had protection. This year, that may not happen, as he has a lot of new linemen. Our DL may not need to get the initial pressure (which comes from the blitz), but they WILL need to keep playing and give Darnold no place to hide. Darnold can be pressured into bad decisions. That didn't happen often last year, but it did happen. Our blitz needs to make him throw early or get hit, and we need to tackle well.
He was calm in the pocket last year, but partly because he had great receivers that would eventually get open. The trouble with relying on "coverage sacks" is that if Darnold can extend the play, somebody will get open eventually. If we blitz, it has to be in order to force an early throw, which may be to the wrong team. Darnold hasn't had to deal with a "bad game", AFIK. If we get him to doubt, we win for sure.