Bucky Is On Pace For 312 Touches
October 14th, 2026
The Bucs have been pounding the rock with Bucky Irving.
Understandable. Jobs are on the line and he’s damn talented.
The summer hope at One Buc Palace was to keep Irving extra fresh so he could be roaring through December and January. As of now, Irving is on pace for 261 carries. That total would have ranked eighth in the NFL last season in total rushes.
That’s a big season workload for a guy Irving’s size. For old Bucs fans seeking perspective, Warrick Dunn (1997-2001) never had that many rushes in a Bucs season.
Dunn did have 292 touches in a season for the Bucs; Irving is on pace for 312 touches this season.
“When Bucky gets rolling like that, you just let him eat,” Todd Bowles told WFLA-TV this week about Irving’s Thursday night in Dallas.
Joe expects plenty of Bucky on Sunday against the Steelers. At 1-4, the Bucs need a Super Bowl mentality for this game.
October 14th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Where the hell is Tucker Man? On the few touches he got he was hot. So much for our big money free agent RB. Heck, I cant remember his name. Oh Gainwell?
October 14th, 2026 at 11:19 am
Stupid headline
October 14th, 2026 at 11:19 am
Until he breaks I’ll wait until he plays against a defense who is not the cowboys who I’m not sure they left the locker all season. If they keep on that pace bucs won’t have bucky for long they should have got a bigger back not waste money on an inferior clone.
October 14th, 2026 at 11:22 am
Lots of extra offensive linemen and 3 tight end offense. If you can get 3.5 yards a play it’s a first down every set of downs, control the clock, and 3 points is better than less.
October 14th, 2026 at 11:32 am
The problem is can Bucky stay healthy an entire season. He’s not a big brushing running back and hasn’t shown he can handle that kind of load. The Bucs are playing with fire and don’t have the backups to sustain a long season. It’s anyone’s guess on how long this formula can last.
That’s why the NFC South is up for grabs and remains the bottom feeders of the NFL until proven otherwise.
October 14th, 2026 at 11:38 am
Still waiting for them to start using Kenny G…..
October 14th, 2026 at 11:44 am
dunn floated around the 300 touch number like about 6 times in his career…more times in atlanta tho…they ran him into the ground…
he had a great career…like 15,000 total yards…big numbers for a little guy
October 14th, 2026 at 11:47 am
Love Bucky but if that year we had picked up him and Braelon Allen out of Wisconsin we would have our Alstott and Dunn. 2 fourth round picks to set up our running game for years. Oh well.
October 14th, 2026 at 11:49 am
when dunn came back to tampa for his final season in the league, he had a terrific year…like 1,100 total yards that year, before retiring…i just peeped his stats
October 14th, 2026 at 11:50 am
oh wait, this thread is about bucky…!
yes we love bucky
—
go bucky go…
run bucky run…
score bucky score…!
October 14th, 2026 at 11:51 am
The Steelers shut down Jonathan Taylor last week (45yds) so it could be a tough game for Bucky trying to find a hole behind our limp OL. Gainwell will be very motivated to play against his old team, so let’s see if ZRob can scheme up some plays for Kenny G. Of course, Big-Play Tucker will deserve some touches but we all know he won’t get enough. WTF!
October 14th, 2026 at 12:12 pm
Great picture! Bucky scores mid hip drop!!
October 14th, 2026 at 12:14 pm
whats not to like about bucky. what a bargain.
soon the “fans” will start crying that his hip flexors are too small according to ALL 22 and his acceleration is .00026% under league average and other donkey like braying.
bucky is too weak they’ll say, his head isnt right and all sorts of other cr@p.
October 14th, 2026 at 12:16 pm
If Bucky has a big day against Pittsburgh, Bucs Win!!
Go Bucs !!
October 14th, 2026 at 12:23 pm
We don’t have to worry about him being overused. He’ll get hurt long before he gets 261 touches
October 14th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
not much need saving him for January!
October 14th, 2026 at 1:04 pm
Cometowin2:
lol…braelon allen is absolutely not an alstott, and neither is cam skattebo…
no one is an alstott…the mold was broken…
also alstott came into the league around 248 pounds and then beefed up to like 260…he was going up the gut like a freight train at around 260…
those other guys are normal sized big backs…but can’t compare to the A-train
October 14th, 2026 at 1:24 pm
Meaning Bucky will end up hurt this season. That guy is too small for so many touches
October 14th, 2026 at 4:54 pm
James Wilder had 492 touches in just 16 games, in 1984.
The following season he had 1300 yards and 10 TDs on the ground, and 53 receptions on top of that.
One thing about running backs is that you’re rarely giving them a 2nd contract, so you should get everything you can out of that rookie deal. So while I really like Bucky, I’m not too worried about running him into the ground – at least longterm.
With that said, Gainwell IS a good RB, and while not at Bucky’s level, he should be more involved. If he is, he’ll perform. However the Bucs have had Gainwell on the field quite a bit (around 40% of snaps, Bucky is just over 50%) but mainly had him blocking, which he isn’t great at. But if they start using Gainwell more to run and catch, people will be happy with the results.
One thing they shouldn’t do is try to force snaps to Tucker. If you want to give him a few snaps here or there, that’s fine, but why you take out an outstanding back like Bucky at the goalline for a dud like Tucker is just flat out stupid, and it cost the Bucs a TD vs the Cowboys.
October 14th, 2026 at 6:04 pm
Fumblestott!