Rachaad White On Choosing To Go Down Rather Than Score
October 6th, 2025
Smart sacrifice.
Rachaad White was in a conundrum. And he only had a nanosecond to think about it.
With 45 seconds left in the game — Bucs 35, Seahawks 35 — White took a handoff from Baker Mayfield and ran right and all of a sudden there was nothing between him and the end zone but green grass.
White looked to have the edge on the lone Seattle defender who may have been able to stop him, cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett.
Does White turn the corner and go for six to give the Bucs a touchdown lead? The flip side was the Bucs defense finally got a stop when Lavonte David picked off Sam Darnold. There was no guarantee that would repeat itself if the Seahawks got the ball back.
Or, should White do what he worked on in practice? Go down and let the clock tick.
White went down, but he admitted he saw six points flashing in his eyes.
“I thought about it,” White told Joe after the game of running to daylight. “I thought about it.”
White also told the Buccaneers Radio Network he was confident he could do an “Angry Runs” and get past Pritchett.
Instead, what he was coached took over.
“It was a great decision,” White said. “We won, regardless.”
And yes, as White said, the Bucs ate a “W” yesterday, in part thanks to his decision to go down and let the clock burn.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:12 am
Smart play, smart player who needs more touches.
4-1 in spite of Todd Blows Defense
October 6th, 2025 at 11:15 am
Super Bowl focused teams have a roster full of players who put winning above everything else.
This team is special.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:16 am
Very smart play but he wasn’t gonna score…not even close
October 6th, 2025 at 11:18 am
The decision to not go for a TD was correct.
With that said if we are talking about game awareness he should have keet going to take a few more yds to make the FG easier.
With 45 seconds and Seattle only with 1 TO left even if the DB pushed him out of bounds would have not matter. The Bucs would be able to run out the clock.
But he did the right thing.
In the subject of game management. Before Seattles TD at the end of the half the Seahawks had 5 seconds on the game clock and were not ready to run the play. Cameras showed McDonald going close to a ref to call TO to avoid delay of game.
And then Bucs call TO.
Why in the world we call a TO to help them. Even if the Defense was not ready Seattle did not have time to run a play. What were we thinking ?
Still some questionable game/clock management decisions happening.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:19 am
It will be a big mistake to let him walk as a FA. I view him and Bucky as 1A & 1B. Bucky is too small to hold up all season and that point is being proven as I type with him out due to injury. I think we keep splitting the load between them the way the Lions do with their tandem. I think there is nothing wrong with RBs splitting the work especially when we have two if not three great RBs if youd like to include barber.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:24 am
Hope we can resign him – good player
October 6th, 2025 at 11:27 am
I saw people praising the slide. I don’t think it did anything for us other than make the FG 6-10 yards longer, so I didn’t like it.
38 seconds left when he slides. 1st and 10 Bucs, Seattle had 1 timeout.
We still controlled the clock and could do the exact thing we did but White could have gotten the kick in a shorter range.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:29 am
Barber?
October 6th, 2025 at 11:35 am
White is a beast and may have had a shot at the end zone, but as it turns out he did the right thing especially how our defense and kick off team were playing. Don’t want to give Darnold even thirty seconds to get Seattle in a position to tie. The Bucs need to re-sign him.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:35 am
I do think the slide is getting a little too much credit. Bucs had a first down and Seattle could only stop the clock one more time. However, Rachad White is about as good a number 2 back as you can have in the NFL. Bucs need to resign him after this season if possible.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:36 am
In real time, I thought the defender had the momentum to force White out of bounds. If White thought he could have scored, he could have made his move and slid down at the one. All’s well that ends well.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:38 am
He also could’ve gotten tied up with the tackler and fumbled. Or extending the play could’ve drawn a penalty of some type. Lots of bad things could’ve happened that didn’t because he slid like he was supposed to.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:49 am
I remember everyone making a big deal of the Nick Chubb TD run near end of Houston game which gave Baker all the time he needed to lead the team on a game-winning drive.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:49 am
Yeah in real time it looked like the DB had the angle, could have shoved him OB to save a TO. Good argument for maybe getting a few more yards but no bad outcome with the slide, played to our favor. A smart play coached smartly.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:51 am
Smart football by a smart player
October 6th, 2025 at 11:53 am
Rachaad is player that is easy to like. But, that was not always the case. Too many memories of him not being able to read his blocks and hit the hole. Continued to work hard and become a valuable player. When Bucky returns I would like to see Rachaad continue to get his beak wet. He needs more carries. Bucky is a great runner and Rachaad brings a lot of value not only in the run game but also in the passing attack.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:56 am
Good thing he and Grizz are smarter than I am. I thought TD…Wrong again. LOL
Go Bucs!
October 6th, 2025 at 11:57 am
I’ll be honest. I almost threw up when White slid. I had visions of a blocked field goal and a scoop and score by the Seahawks. Whew…!
October 6th, 2025 at 12:01 pm
I thought he was going to get more yardage lol it wasn’t like he was 5 yards from the end zone when he went down.
Either way don’t care what an awesome win!
October 6th, 2025 at 12:06 pm
much better decision than Arizona Cardinal Demercado!! WOW.
October 6th, 2025 at 12:07 pm
Smart player!
Bucs defense CAN NOT be trusted to keep Seahawks out of the endzone….
It’s awesome to have an electrifying offense though…
October 6th, 2025 at 12:12 pm
Very heady play by White…the defense has the angle on him anyways. Even if he did score there…there were 2 things we didn’t want to see again this game:
1) The Bucs Kickoff Team
2) The prevent defense taking the field again
October 6th, 2025 at 12:20 pm
The play resulted in the win therefore it was the right play. I’m dumbfounded that Monday morning armchair running backs have the gall to second guess this play. It was most obviously the right move and resulted in a win. RW should stay on the roster for next season, he’s a keeper.
October 6th, 2025 at 12:25 pm
Rachaad did the right thing. i was very concerned of a yellow flag being thrown out but thank God, it went our way…..
October 6th, 2025 at 12:34 pm
I was listening on the radio and I knew it was a smart call. And that Chase would finish it. You should have heard Gene holler “Bucs Win!” Bet that sound carried to the North Pole (what’s left of it). Boy, am I proud of my team today. Seattle is a very good ball club, no doubt, and that stadium gets LOUD!
October 6th, 2025 at 12:39 pm
so good!!! big difference this year is clock management, smarter play and less penalties and turn overs.
Todd Bowles favorite moment in life: calling time out w 3 seconds left!!
October 6th, 2025 at 1:07 pm
smart play. I thought about it at the time too. it’s a nice thought, but I don’t think he would have broken that run for six. He would have been shoved out of bounds 1 second later.
October 6th, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Smart play indeed. Smart(ER) play would have been getting closer, going down inside the 5 and forcing the last Seattle TO. THEN, we strategically run and end the game with 7pts leaving under 6 secs on the clock. Don’t trust special teams. I was nervous about potential FG block.
October 6th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
very smart play!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 6th, 2025 at 2:00 pm
His trajectory was going out of bounds to stop the clock lol
October 6th, 2025 at 3:00 pm
SOUNDS GOOD BUT …
White goes down if a defender breaths on him. White had a nice day but we all know who he is.
October 6th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
It was a smart play and we won the game.
October 6th, 2025 at 5:05 pm
It’s almost shocking to see a player who is well coached. It’s obvious who he’s not getting that from.
October 6th, 2025 at 5:43 pm
Keep Rachaad in a Buccaneers Jersey! We need his services.
October 6th, 2025 at 5:59 pm
Pffffttt 🙄.
Yes, we know who he is…. At least the “we” who know football. One of the best all purpose backs in the league. A poor man’s CM.
RW is our most physical runner…. By a long shot. Hopefully Grizz continues to feature him.
October 6th, 2025 at 7:24 pm
The Seahawks had already possessed the ball for 42 minutes, so the Bucs D was gassed.
The first down insured that the Bucs could keep Seattle from possessing the ball again which was the critical thing.
As icing on the cake, so long as White could be certain that he wouldn’t score, I would have rather he kept running.
Ideally, the Bucs would have saved one time out and kept trying to advance the ball on the ground the one yard line. With one timeout left and about ten seconds left on the clock, they should have tried to run the ball into the end zone to score. If they were stopped, they still could use the last timeout for the field goal try as time expired.
October 6th, 2025 at 7:29 pm
I may be wrong, but I seem to remember a game in the last
few years when White (I believe it was he) was in a similar situation,
fought on for extra yards, and lost a fumble. Just saying, a learning
experience.
October 6th, 2025 at 8:14 pm
Lt. Dan: “I’ll be honest. I almost threw up when White slid. I had visions of a blocked field goal and a scoop and score by the Seahawks. Whew…!“
You aren’t alone, Lt. Dan. He would have sailed into the end zone. Leaving about a minute, maybe less. But after the other second half drives, I think I would have trusted the FG over the Defense.
Defense, have some pride. Yeah, you got the pick. But this lack of pressure is embarrassing. Yaya, Rodrick: Wake the F up.
October 6th, 2025 at 9:09 pm
Why are we making this sound like some brilliant decision. He had the first down. Baker could have run 3 knee downs at that point. It was over after the first down. Give me a break.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:30 pm
I remember White doing this stuff a couple of years ago, when he had long runs in front of him and he just slid early to run out the clock, then getting dinged post game by people saying he only averaged 3.9 yards per carry, when he easily would have been well over 4 with 2TDs had he just not slid down – and that wasn’t a one score game if I recall correctly.
October 6th, 2025 at 11:57 pm
It was the right move. Some of yall just love to complain.