Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back Bucky Irving is surging down the stretch.
The first-year running back set career highs in rushing yards and scrimmage yards each of the last two weeks. In Sunday's 26-23 overtime win over Carolina, Irving generated 152 rushing yards on 25 carries -- both by far career highs -- with a touchdown.
"He's getting more comfortable with the offense," Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said Monday, via team transcript. "The more comfortable he gets, the more you can give him, the more he can do. Like you said, both (Irving and Rachaad White) are running well -- we're happy with both of them. Bucky has a skill you can't teach -- he can make people miss in the hole. He's tough on the inside. Rachaad had a big run at the end of the game, as well. Using them both together seems to be working out for us."
With 1,017 scrimmage yards in 2024, Irving joined LeGarrette Blount in 2010 (also with the Buccaneers) as the only rookies from Oregon with 1,000-plus scrimmage yards.
In each of his last three games, Irving has had 70-plus rush yards and one rushing TD, tied for the longest such streak by a rookie in team history (Doug Martin, 2012).
While it might be a longshot for a running back to leap over the quarterbacks, Irving's run has put his name in the conversation for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
"I don't really like taking all the credit," Irving said about his recent success. "It's those guys up front. I think I have to do something really nice for those guys for Christmas, because they're getting the job done. I really don't want to take all the credit. Like I said, we have to get more of those guys in here and give them the credit for getting the job done up front."
The Bucs have increased Irving's usage in recent weeks, and offensive coordinator Liam Cohen has done an excellent job using "pony packages" to get the rookie running back and Rachaad White on the field together, which helps stress defenses.
"Coach has always said, 'We have to get our best players on the field,' but '21' personnel is pretty much you don't know which back is getting the ball because [of the] variety," Irving said of the two-RB packages. "We can run routes, we can do different runs, different schemes out of that package so we just have to keep putting our head down, getting it right, and hopefully expand on the package."
The dual-threat running back has helped spearhead a Bucs offense that has kept them in contention for the NFC South title. At 6-6, Tampa sits behind Atlanta due to losing the tiebreaker, but the Bucs face just one team currently with a winning record in the final five weeks (Los Angeles Chargers).
