Bucs rookies Rachaad White, Cade Otton keep rewarding Tom Brady’s trust

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed two touchdowns in the final minutes to beat the New Orleans Saints, the greatest quarterback of all time turned to a pair of rookies to make it happen.

Sure, there were other players involved as Tom Brady marched the Bucs down the field for back-to-back touchdown drives to steal a 17-16 win. But when the GOAT needed to put the ball in the end zone with the game on the line, he called for No. 88 and No. 29.

Cade Otton, fourth-round tight end, caught the first score from Brady to cut the Saints’ lead in half. Rachaad White, third-round running back, caught the game-winner with just three seconds left on the clock.

“The way they come in and prepare and study every week – learning from the older guys, not making the same mistakes twice, allowing us to trust them,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said Wednesday when asked about Otton and White. “In return, they’re producing for us. I think it’s been great and the growth is just going to continue. Those two guys making plays at the end of the game are the same plays they make in practice. We’re used to seeing it and they just carried it over.”

“I put the work in day in and day out at the practice field just gaining ‘TB’s’ (Tom Brady’s) trust, Mike [Evans] – all the vets,” White said Wednesday. “Coach as well – they trust the guys to believe in me to be able to come to me about anything, come to me for a play that we ran, things like that. It’s just the consistency and the work you put in every week and every day.”

Earlier this season, when the Bucs needed a similar last-second touchdown to seal a comeback win against the Los Angeles Rams, Brady found Otton for the Washington product’s first career score.

Monday night’s game-winner was the first touchdown catch of White’s career.

That won’t be the last time Brady looks for his rookie teammates when he needs a big play in crunch time.

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Bucs 17, Saints 16: Postgame reaction from Tom Brady, Rachaad White and more

Story originally appeared on Buccaneers Wire