Stacked Boxes And Rachaad White
September 13th, 2023
Rachaad White
Head coach Todd “Big Balls” Bowles gave Rachaad White a bit of a pass today for his nothing-special performance against the Vikings on Sunday.
Bowles referenced how the Vikings often had an extra defender coming down to the stop the run. It’s typically known as an 8th man in the box.
Official NFL NextGen Stats backed up Bowles, but there is an important asterisk.
Per NextGen data, White saw an 8-man box on 47 percent of his carries. That’s a huge difference from the 18.6 percent rate White dealt with all last season when defenses were more interested in stopping the Bucs’ passing game with Tom Brady.
However, White’s struggles cannot be written off to the Vikings dialed in to stop the run. He averaged 2.3 yards per carry Sunday, but the five NFL running backs that saw a greater 8-man-box percentage than White all had a much higher yards-per-carry average in Week 1.
Joe maintains that White needs to be less patient at times and simply explode when he gets the rock. If he can’t do it, the Bucs will pass on opportunities to backs that will flash their burst in a hurry
September 13th, 2023 at 1:48 pm
I haven’t seen much from this guy. I would keep him on a short leash and then give someone else a shot. Our o-line is not that bad
September 13th, 2023 at 1:59 pm
Hoping White becomes that guy. But from the little I saw from Tucker and his camp I could see him getting major role or the starter by the end of the season if White cant hit the holes hard. Like Joe said he might be just a little too patient.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:01 pm
I’m just now starting to have doubts about his production capabilities.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:04 pm
Like people are saying he is being too patient. He needs to hit the hole.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:06 pm
Remember this is the first game for Canales, this new O line, and Rachaad in a new running scheme. The Vikings were keying on the run with 8 man boxes and blitzes to make Baker beat them, and starting at the end of the first half he started to do that. Don’t forget Brian Flores is one of the better defensive coordinators in the league, so it was a rough first challenge. I think this week at home against an average Bears defense will show improvement, and that it will get better as the season goes along and they start to click more. Rachaad White will never be a top 10 RB in the league, but I expect that he will still produce enough to be considered a starting quality back this season. LFG
September 13th, 2023 at 2:15 pm
Don’t see it runs too high I saw the play where he had daylight and couldn’t break a tackle
September 13th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
It seems likely that Minnesota sold out to stop our rushing attack for most of the game & dared Mayfield to beat them with his arm. Judging from all the comments I’d seen before the game (on JBF & elsewhere) about Baker, that probably seemed like a smart bet to the Vikings.
And for the 1st half, it was. Baker only completed 7 of his 15 passes (46.7%) in the 1st half for 63 meager yards. Of our 8 drives in the 1st half, only ONE was longer than 2 minutes (2:05).
But what a difference halftime made. Baker came out on fire and completed 15 of 19 passes (78.9%) for 110 yards. Our 4 drives averaged a smidge over 5 minutes each.
Interestingly, we actually ran MORE in the 2nd half, albeit less effectively (1.8 YPC on 21 runs) than we did in the 1st half (3.0 YPC on 12 runs). Certainly nothing to write home about, but it did keep Minnesota focused on our running game apparently, just enough for Baker to light em up.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:20 pm
It’s tucker time.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:25 pm
Sneak is a better runner than White.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:32 pm
He was disappointing for sure, but it was also first game with a new OC and new scheme, so I’ll give him some more time before making a final judgement.
With that said, there were definitely multiple times where he needed just blow through a defender, but instead seemed to just let himself get tackled a la OJ Howard.
I said during the gameday thread that maybe Baker could teach him how to break a tackle…
September 13th, 2023 at 2:40 pm
Stacked boxes?……either teams have been doing that to us for years….or, we simply just don’t run block well.
I actually don’t think the problem is with the backs.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:44 pm
Joe, something you may find interesting is that the Bucs blitzed more than any other team this weekend. The team after them were the Vikings. The Vikings blitzing on over 50% of their plays could have easily impacted Rachaad White.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:46 pm
Sean Tucker > C. Edmonds > R. White > Blind Donkey > K. Vaughn.
I hope R. White can get things going but so far I am pretty disappointed with both our run blocking and White’s mediocrity.
September 13th, 2023 at 2:52 pm
D-Rome … Excellent point about the blitzing. I thought that their defense played very well under Brian Flores. They’ll win their share of games this year, although I doubt that they’ll go 13-4 again like they did last season.
September 13th, 2023 at 3:13 pm
Im holding out hope… but when the #2 rb was handed the ball… I was like who is this guy?
#2 looked better
September 13th, 2023 at 3:14 pm
I am starting to doubt White as well after the first game performance where he looked tentative hitting the holes at times.
Tucker looks like a very good back, they should split more carries to Tucker and see what production they get.
September 13th, 2023 at 3:42 pm
Its all a push in week 1. Likely to see stacked boxes just as frequently until teams are convinced that forcing the quarterback to make plays is not successful. 8 defenders in the box leaves only 3 to cover Evans and Godwin. Still a work in progress.
September 13th, 2023 at 3:53 pm
Give the new offensive line some time to get acquainted with each other and with Davd Canales offensive scheme before drawing any conclusions on specific running backs. Running backs, like quarterbacks, get way too much credit when the running game is strong and way too much blame when the running game is weak. Offensive lines and how they perform are much more important than any individual running back.
It may be that Rachad White is not the best three down back we have on the roster today. But that will eventually be obvious if that is the case. In the meantime mark the Bucs down as a solid “running back by committee team” that does not lean on a “feature running back.”
September 13th, 2023 at 4:09 pm
Tucker was mediocre. He did fight for an extra yardvor two when hit. White was lousy.
September 13th, 2023 at 4:18 pm
White runs tall and is a long strider. He’s average running the Leftwich up the middle run but doesn’t pick up his feet and trips over his own OL. On the wide zones he doesn’t have the quickness or vision for the cutback and can’t make anyone miss. He should be RB4.
September 13th, 2023 at 4:18 pm
Need to get Whote to keep quiet in interviews. He is taking about how Baker knew the hand signals the Vikings defense was calling in and that was the reason for our success in the second half. How dumb do you have to be to tell other teams why you suddenly got better…
September 13th, 2023 at 4:23 pm
Hands down worst RB performance in 10 years
September 13th, 2023 at 4:30 pm
He talked again today. 🙂 He likes to talk.
September 13th, 2023 at 5:56 pm
White needs to be coached up on the talking. At least he’s not being super stupid and trash-talking other teams.
September 13th, 2023 at 6:25 pm
White’s feet looked slow, like unmotivated Lenny slow. He also lacked vision and power. He hit the line of scrimmage on Sun with the vigor of an empty can of lite beer. #freeseantucker
September 13th, 2023 at 8:48 pm
Did White put on weight? He seemed slow, less agile, and just not as quick against Minnesota. I hope he didnt pur weight on. If he did it will be a long year for him and Will find himself as the #2 back. Maybe #3!
September 13th, 2023 at 9:10 pm
he’s no james wilder
September 13th, 2023 at 9:27 pm
Go back and watch the Cowboys oline vs giants. That’s how you open up lanes to run thru
Now compare that to the bucs oline and the difference is night and day.
September 13th, 2023 at 10:00 pm
The best NFL fit for R. White is a tailback on an I-formation team. He’d be awesome with Alstott as his fullback! On this team…eh, not so much, he runs like a dinosaur for this scheme.
September 14th, 2023 at 3:19 am
“Joe maintains that White needs to be less patient at times and simply explode when he gets the rock. If he can’t do it, the Bucs will pass on opportunities to backs that will flash their burst in a hurry”
Absolutely! He reminded me of Playoff Lenny from last season. I am pretty sure he got an ear full in post game meetings. Trying to bust every carry for a TD is fine if you have Barry Sanders moves, but he does not.
Go Bucs!
September 14th, 2023 at 1:14 pm
Not only does White suck at RB but in week 1 he’s giving away potential advantages that could’ve helped throughout the season…..how dumb do you have to be?
Now teams FOR SURE are keeping their signals away from Mayfield.