Bucky Irving was dominant again on Sunday but made one major mistake.

His head coach talked to him all about it.

Todd Bowles had happiness in his voice during his weekly Buccaneers Coaches Show. (Joe listens on the SiriusXM app.)

Even while talking about one of the game’s standout blunders, Bowles had a feel-good tone in his voice. It’s amazing what a “W” does for the sould.

When Bucky Irving needlessly fumbled out the end zone from the field of play, it cost the Bucs an early 10-0 lead and seemed to give the Falcons life.

It was a sloppy mistake (video below). Irving basically put the ball on a silver platter for Falcons Pro Bowl safety Jesse Bates to knock away.

“Bucky’s pretty hard on himself,” Bowles said. “You know, he took it to heart and he took ownership of it. But you gotta forget about it and go on to the next play.

“But it showed his maturity, the way he came back and took care of the ball and started making some tough runs and tucking the ball away. And, you know, we talked this morning even talking about [the fumble]. I told him, ‘I’ve never seen any of the greats take the ball away from their body and hold it with two hands out there on the goal line. Not Jim Brown, not Barry Sanders, not Eric Dickerson, not Emmitt Smith.’

“And he just looked at me. ‘You’re right. You’re right, Coach. You’re right.’ But it, it’s a good lesson for him to learn and I think that’ll help him the rest of the year.”

Jessie Bates is pretty, pretty, pretty good at punching the football https://t.co/R9byX4Vpvy

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) November 2, 2026