Buccaneers RB says things will be 'different' in wild-card rematch against Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles easily defeated Tampa Bay in Week 3, but Buccaneers running back Rachaad White believes things will be different when the teams meet on Monday in the wild-card round.
In a game the Eagles won 25-11, Philadelphia put up 472 yards on offense while their defense held the Buccaneers to a season-low 174 yards. White had an especially bad game, rushing for just 38 yards on 14 carries, losing a fumble and taking a safety late in the third quarter.
But during a recent appearance on the NFL Network's Good Morning Football, White said the team is in a much better place these days:
"Of course, you go back and watch again," he said. "You see if there are things you want to do this go around and things like that. I just feel like the biggest thing is we're a different team than we were then. We kind of know who we are now."
He’s not wrong. Unlike Philadelphia, Tampa won their division by winning five of their last six games and while most teams point to improved quarterback play as the reason for the Bucs’ strong finish, White was a big reason for their success.
During the team’s first eight games, White averaged 14 carries and 47.2 yards per game. In his last eight games, he averaged 17.5 carries for 70 yards per game while scoring two of his three receiving touchdowns for the season.
Facing Philadelphia’s 31st-ranked pass defense this week, no one would blame Tampa for leaning on wide receiver Mike Evans and his league-leading 13 touchdowns to win the game, but Evans had no scores in his last two games and was held to three catches and 22 yards by the Panthers last week.
With cornerback Darius Slay set to return from arthroscopic knee surgery this week, the Bucs may look to hold the ball and keep Philadelphia’s eighth-ranked offense off the field. If so, they could do worse than the NFL’s 14th-leading rusher.
White tied San Francisco’s Christian McCaffrey for second with 292 attempts in 2023. That’s a lot of carries, but none as important as the ones he’ll get on Monday night.
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