Declaration made.

A quad injury followed by a hip injury had Bucs savior linebacker Devin White looking more like Mason Foster than Ray Lewis in recent weeks.

But more explosion returned to White’s game against Buffalo two Sundays ago (prior to which White shared on social media that his quad was good). And then White followed that game up with an energetic outing Sunday against New Orleans.

That had his head coach making a declaration last night on the Buccaneers Radio Network.

“Yeah, Devin’s back,” Arians said. “I mean that’s two weeks in a row he was flying all over the place, had great energy and did a great job checking the defense to the right spots. Again, just really great leadership.”

Regarding more of White’s role in holding the Saints to nine points, Arians said speed at linebacker from White and Lavonte David negates what the Saints want to do, particularly with Alvin Kamara. David played on Halloween against the Saints in a 36-27 loss, but he was not at full speed because of a still-healing ankle.

Joe is fired up by the possibility that White is healing quickly and thoroughly and “is back,” as Arians called it.

A White revival to his 2020 postseason form now feels like a critical key to the Bucs overcoming so many injuries on offense.