Tampa Bay Buccaneers Rookie RB Bucky Irving’s Absence in Practice a ‘Challenge’

Don’t look now, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a running game. After finishing dead last the past two seasons, the Buccaneers have the league’s 10th-best rushing attack, averaging 130.9 yards per carry. match.

The Bucs’ success on the ground nearly hit a roadblock in Week 8 when Irving appeared on the injury report with a toe injury. After speculation about whether he would be able to play, the rookie running back played through the injury and led the team in rushing with 44 yards. When it came to practice on Wednesday, Irving was again out of practice and listed as a non-participant. Head coach Todd Bowles was asked after practice if there were any updates on the status of Irving’s health, and he said the trend of Irving missing practice early in the week would likely become a trend for the rest of the season.

“Bucky (Irving) will be the same as last week,” Bowles said. “He will probably practice towards the end of the week, but he will probably have this problem all year round.”

In addition to Irving’s performance as a rookie rusher, he still needs valuable reps as he grows into his role throughout the season. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen was asked what the difficulties were not having the breakout running back when it comes to game planning and preparing for an opponent, and he was transparent about how challenging it was.

“It’s definitely challenging,” Coen said. “Do I trust him? He’s here at 5 o’clock every day doing what he’s supposed to do, but he’s still a rookie who needs reps, who needs the muscle memory, the way we do things, your groove, your reading , everything goes into it. So it’s definitely been a bit of a challenge, not being able to have him, and it’s not necessarily just for some of the ’21’ (personnel) stuff, it’s more just the regular offense not getting those reps, so (it’s) definitely a challenge. He’s tried to take the necessary steps to make sure he’s ahead of the game plan, but I wouldn’t say it’s easy.

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To accommodate Irving’s injury, Coen has installed secondary walkthroughs with the team to try to get him up to speed before game day.

“That’s what we did last week before our Saturday practice in there,” Coen said. “We had another walkthrough prior to that as a unit, and it was really a Bucky walkthrough. So we keep having to do that and get him up to speed.”

As long as Irving continues to deal with his toe injury (which sounds like it will be all season), the Bucs will have to find ways to keep him involved during practice and carefully get him his reps. At the same time, they must ensure that he does not suffer any setbacks in the future. The trainers will continue the challenging process of getting Irving up to speed and also hold secondary walkthroughs. The results in Week 8 were good, though, and if the results against the Chiefs follow suit, this will be a non-story going forward.

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