2-Point Conversion: Bucs Win With All The White Stuff

White not only made the case for receiving more carries after the bye week, but also that he should supplant Fournette as the Bucs’ starter. White had four carries of 10 yards or more on Sunday, including a 29-yarder that wound up being the Bucs’ first run of 20 yards or more this season.

He threw a wicked stiff arm on Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs that went viral on social media and is Angry Runs-worthy.

“I was setting him for something and the stiff arm just happened,” White said. “It just was a reaction. Playing running back, you have to react a lot.”

With his biggest workload of the season, White got into a rhythm and finished the game off with an 18-yard run to cap off a perfect four-minute drive to run out the clock.

“That’s a big thing, especially when you’re getting carries back-to-back,” White said. “You get in a rhythm, you get in a groove.”

White showed great awareness and maturity on that final 18-yard run, sliding down in bounds at the Seattle 19 rather than trying to break it for a bigger gain or a touchdown down the sidelines and then get pushed out of bounds, as that would have stopped the clock.

“It was great,” White said. “We knew the mentality we wanted to have coming back out there. Obviously, I loved it. My mentality was I knew Coach was going to run the ball, put the ball in my hands. I was telling myself, ‘Let’s go, finish this game out.’”

The Bucs ran for a season-high 161 yards against the Seahawks, mostly due to White’s explosive running style. His first career 100-yard game brought balance to a Bucs offense that was craving it, according to head coach Todd Bowles.

“It felt great to run the ball. I felt they did a good job of mixing things up, trying to keep them off balance running the ball a little bit and then throwing the ball,” Bowles said. “Rachaad and Leonard got off to a good start. Rachaad ran the ball and Leonard got hurt and Rachaad got his carries. He’s a slithery guy. He comes to play every day. He seems like he’s always falling forward. The offensive line played well and they blocked for him.”

Fournette’s injury will likely be healed in time for the Browns game on November 27, and he’ll surely split carries with White after the bye week. But the rookie has an extra gear, extra elusiveness and extra maturity that should make him RB1 in Tampa Bay down the stretch.

The Bucs coaches were slow to bench struggling rookie left guard Luke Goedeke in favor of Nick Leverett, who has been much more effective over the last three games. The coaches need to quickly recognize that White’s arrow is pointing up and he needs more carries and catches that come with a starting role to aid in his rapid development.

STATEMENT 2: LB White Looks Like A Pro Bowler Again

Bucs inside linebacker Devin White deserves an awful lot of credit for his play over the past two weeks. Coming off a loss to the Ravens in which White played poorly and was subjected to public criticism from Bucs Hall of Famer Warren Sapp, Pewter Report and others, White had a bounce-back game against the Rams in a 16-13 win.

White wasn’t spectacular in a win against Los Angeles that snapped Tampa Bay’s three-game losing streak. But he was solid and steady. No mental gaffes and no noticeable mistakes.

In Germany against the Seahawks, White took his game to another level – a Pro Bowl level.