Rachaad White Appreciates Bucs Fans Having His Back
May 25th, 2023
Shout out to Bucs fans.
Hey Kay, drop Joe an email so you can do the “Ira Kaufman Podcast.” Whaddaya say?
The former NFL Network it-girl is creeping up on her second season hosting her own show on FanDuelTV, “Up and Adams.” And she basically admitted she reads this here site.
Why does Joe say that? Well, interviewing Bucs running back Rachaad White recently, Adams said she’s “pretty plugged-in with” Bucs fans.
If that is true, then Adams reads. (Joe knows her former co-workers Kyle Brandt and Peter Schrager do.)
Adams claimed Bucs fans pushed back on her notion last month that the Bucs needed to draft a running back. (Joe didn’t see or hear any such clamor.) Bucs fans, Adams said, are 100 percent behind White.
So Adams asked White what it means to him to have so much (alleged?) support.
“That’s a lot of love,” White said. “Everyone has a right to their own opinion. It’s up to me to be that guy to back it up. To have the fans and people believe in me, it’s heartwarming for sure.”
He’s right. It’s up to White to prove his defenders that he belongs in the league.
Joe absolutely loved White’s game against Seattle. Joe was mighty proud and happy covering that game in Munich, and not just because Joe finally stepped foot on foreign soil and got to experience one of the coolest cities on the Continent Europe. Joe was happy as hell to watch White stomp on the Seahawks defense.
Other than that game, White had a lousy year. His advanced stats were awful. Was that performance in Munich a window into the future or an outlier?
If White has a strong 2023 season with a new offensive coordinator, then Joe cannot help but connect the dots that White was in a rotten situation with SpongeBob running the offense (into the ground) last year.
May 25th, 2023 at 1:52 am
O-line Joe… o-line.
May 25th, 2023 at 2:27 am
Many more of us would have his back if he demonstrates instant explosiveness instead of a high slo mo/”i need several steps to get going” long strider. If he demonstrates that he is an all-down feature back with power, quickness and speed who can carry an offense, not a secondary gadget pass catching back who needs open space. Sure. Do all the things he’s never done before, and we’ll all have his back.
May 25th, 2023 at 3:04 am
MARRY ME KAY!!!
May 25th, 2023 at 4:25 am
I think Lefty had quite a bit to do with the running game as well. His play calling in general. I mean the Munich game, when he called the same freaking play with Tom lining out wide… Twice? Idiotic. Definitely put the game in jeopardy.
May 25th, 2023 at 6:08 am
We’ve seen flashes, we’ve heard his confidence and he’s done a good enough job selling himself to the Bucs organization where they didn’t even BLINK at one of the outstanding running backs in this years draft! This guy better back every word up or it will be one of the biggest sell jobs by a player in bucs history that we all bought lol
May 25th, 2023 at 6:45 am
As much as Joe hates the ideal of our O-line finally jelling after releasing Smith, moving Wirfs to LT and Jensen getting back to normal, White looks to be on the verge of having a breakout season. Can’t wait.
May 25th, 2023 at 7:19 am
We had a prehistoric offense last year with a dinosaur at QB, and a neanderthal calling the plays. Enough said.
May 25th, 2023 at 7:34 am
Average running back.
May 25th, 2023 at 8:04 am
Leftout is still unemployed it seems. LOL.
May 25th, 2023 at 8:52 am
The Bucs did great in that Seattle game, but in retrospect it’s more likely there was a problem with Seattle playing in that strange environment than the Bucs being so great.
So any running back would have probably had a great game there, sorry to say. Jury’s still out on White.
May 25th, 2023 at 9:03 am
Byron undocked the ship and promptly crashed into the pier.
But he wasn’t the only problem; we had a grand total of ONE competent run-blocking OL, Wirfs. Smith was getting trucked almost every play regardless if it was run or pass. Goedeke started the year like trash at LG. His replacement, Leverette, was steady but delivered zero push in the run game. Same goes for Hainsey, his health was dependable, but again, no push in the run game. Mason was really just a pass blocker.
When your OC only knows 5 plays, calls them in the same exact order every drive, and your 45 year old QB is so afraid of getting hit that he unloads the ball within 2 seconds, you start to see why the running game was awful. Nobody in the RB room had a chance in these conditions.
And all of this says nothing about how many times White popped off a couple decent runs only to see Fournette get subbed in. WTF happened to riding the hot hand?
May 25th, 2023 at 9:12 am
I wish he was a little faster, but again, like most problems last year the issues with the running game were more about scheme, predictability, and the offensive line.
May 25th, 2023 at 10:03 am
Rachaad White leads the NFL in interviews.
May 25th, 2023 at 10:04 am
predictability could be a reason, offensive “offensive” line could be an issue, not enough touches, etc. but I do think the young man had more juice then Lenny (and we do not have to guard Lenny’s ego or feelings now. Just play ball.
May 25th, 2023 at 1:20 pm
Our offensive line mulched Seattle’s defense in Germany. We can’t count on being that dominant up front in every game to have a decent running game, even if we are much better and miraculously healthy.
I get that Leftwich was a bum but was he coaching Rashaart to always go down on first contact? Y’all who keep anointing him as the chosen one please tell me what game to go rewatch so I can see him get more than what’s blocked?
May 25th, 2023 at 1:58 pm
HEY JOE … Sean Tucker
How much longer until we know if he’s a go or no go?