Bucky Irving 1,000-Yard Season Watch: Week 13

Rookie running back Bucky Irving has led the Bucs in rushing for much of the season, and after a career day in Sunday’s 26-23 overtime win over the Panthers, he’s now the Buccaneers’ favorite for nearly a decade. We are getting closer to achieving what was impossible.

Tampa Bay hasn’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Doug Martin rushed for 1,402 yards in 2015, his second 1,000-yard game with the Bucs. Now, thanks to his 152-yard performance against Carolina, Irving is on track to surpass 1,000 yards in his first season in the NFL.

Bucks RB Bucky Irving – Photo courtesy of USA Today

The 2024 fourth-round pick has 133 carries for 732 yards and six touchdowns through 12 games. He is averaging 5.5 yards per carry and needs 268 more yards to become the ninth player in franchise history to reach the 1,000-yard rushing mark in a season after his first career 100-yard rushing day on Sunday. Only. Click here for the list For now:

1. James Wilder (twice – 1984, 1985)
2. Doug Martin (2012, 2015, twice)
3. Ricky Bell
4. Eric Rhett (twice – 1994, 1995)
5. Cadillac Williams
6. Reggie Cobb
7. Warwick Dunn (twice – 1998, 2000)
8. Le Garrette Brandt

So for Irving to reach 1,000 yards, he would need to average 53.6 yards per game over the Bucs’ final five games. He’s averaging 61.0 rushing yards per game this season and has exceeded that 54-yard threshold in half of Tampa Bay’s games this season, including the last three. And that’s not the only reason to believe he will become the team’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2015.

Bucky Irving became the Bucks’ lead back.

Rathard White falls It’s only 10 yards embarrassing. He rushed for 1,000 yards last year and entered the 2024 season as the Bucs’ No. 1 running back. However, even though Bucky Irving was getting the majority of the carries at the beginning of the season, his carry totals off the jump were significantly reduced. In the end, it was almost a 50-50 split. And recently, Irving is better than White And they often receive more carries than third-year veterans.

In fact, Irving was listed at the top of the Bucks’ depth chart prior to Week 13. The 25-11 advantage in carries in Sunday’s win was more due to riding the hot hand than depth chart position, but it’s clear the rookie performed well. He earned the opportunity to lead Tampa Bay’s resurgent run game.

Bucks RB Bucky Irving – Photo courtesy of USA Today

Bucky Irving Callies vs. Rashard White Callies

Week 1 – 9-15
Week 2 – 7-10
Week 3 – 9-6
Week 4 – 10-10
Week 5 – 9-10
Weeks 6 to 14 vs. DNP
Week 7 – 9-10
Week 8 – 9-6
Week 9 – 7-3
Week 10 – 13-10
Week 11 – Bye-bye
Week 12 – 12 vs 12
Week 13 – 25-11

White has been a huge contributor in his own right to the Bucks’ top-10 onslaught this season, and the team’s two young backs will definitely have a chance to make an impact during their current playoff run. . But Irving will probably get a lot of carries for the rest of the game. Because he earned it.

That would set the rookie up for another 236 yards, which could put him in the top 10 of the franchise’s all-time single-season rushing leaders. Warrick Dunn’s 1,026 yards in 1998 is currently the 10th most in a single season by a back, and Irving is also on pace for 1,037 yards.

Bucky Irving and the Bucs will face a more porous run defense

Bucks RB Bucky Irving – Photo courtesy of USA Today

Bucky Irving’s career game on Sunday came against a Carolina defense that ranks last in the league. The Panthers are giving up an average of 166.8 yards per game on the ground, with Irving rushing for 52 yards, White adding another 76 yards and Baker Mayfield chipping in another eight yards.

Irving and the Bucs will likely see a porous Panthers defense once again when the teams meet again in Tampa in Week 17.

In addition to Carolina’s run defense, which ranks 32nd, Tampa Bay will also face another run defense that is among the worst in the NFL. The next two games on the schedule are against two of the league’s top defenses, the 11th-ranked Raiders (114.8 yards per game) and the 14th-ranked Chargers (119.4 YPG).

But then Irving and the Bucs finish the season with three games against a crappy run defense. Week 16 is the Cowboys (31st, 147.6 YPG). After that, they have a rematch with the Panthers before the season finale at home against the Saints (26th, 136.0).

So between the increased snaps and carries and the rest of the defense the Bucs face, it seems likely that Bucky Irving will break that 1,000-yard mark.