Devin White Sparks Top-Ranked Buccaneers Defense

Devin White may have the Los Vegas Raiders wishing they took him with the fourth pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Tampa Bay’s 2019 first round pick, White shut down Raiders quarterback Derek Carr with a career high three sacks in a 45-20 win for the Buccaneers Sunday in Las Vegas. The second-year linebacker from LSU landed at the fifth pick in the draft after the Raiders took defensive end Clelin Ferrell out of Clemson. Ferrell mustered three tackles and no sacks in Sunday’s loss while White had 11 tackles, nine solo.

A Twitter post by White earlier this year alluded to his displeasure that the Raiders passed on him, according to Heavy’s Austin Boyd. White soon deleted the Tweet.

He tallied two of his three sacks in the first half as the Buccaneers overcame an early 10-7 hole. His second-down sacks led to long third downs and the Buccaneers defense getting off the field with Raiders punts. It slowed a fast start by Carr, who led an opening touchdown drive and another scoring drive in the first 16 minutes of the game. Las Vegas mustered 10 points the rest of the way.

White sealed the game on his third sack, forcing a fumble, on fourth down in the fourth quarter. Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady capitalized with his third TD of the game.
Three sacks tops White’s 2019 rookie total. He came into the game with one sack this season against Green Bay in Week 6.

Ferrell outperformed White in the sack department last year with 4.5, but the former No. 4 pick hasn’t recorded a sack this season. Tampa’s offensive line didn’t let anyone sack Brady for a second-straight game.

White’s partner in crime, linebacker Levonte David turned in a solid game with eights tackles, seven solo. David has 47 tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and interception this season.

Sports Illustrated mentioned the two as potentially the most-dangerous linebacker tandem in the league earlier this year. The tandem leads the team in tackles with 97 between the two.

Defense Stays on Top

Tampa maintained its status as the top defense in the league for yards allowed at 282 yards per game through Sunday.

The Bucs allowed 347 yards against the Raiders. ESPN’s Jenna Laine noted the Bucs’ slow start on defense and added that the unit committed a couple costly penalties, which led to a touchdown instead of a turnover.

Tampa’s defense bounced back from giving up two scoring drives to open the game by forcing punts, a turnover and a turnover on downs. The Bucs never trailed again after scoring following the Raiders’ first punt.

The defense held an opponent to 20 or fewer points a third-straight week. All but four NFL teams score more than 20 points per game.

Winfield Jr. Gets First Pick

Antoine Winfield Jr. snagged his first career interception, helping the Buccaneers pull away in the fourth quarter.

A rookie safety from Minnesota, Winfield reached for the ball before Carr’s first-down pass could hit the turf with 7:09 left in the game. Tampa Bay Times writer Rick Stroud noted that Winfield capitalized on safety Mike Edwards tipping the pass. Stroud added that Winfield came close to his first pick the week before.

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