The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally won their first game of the 2026 NFL regular season, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 24-16 in primetime on Thursday Night Football, exorcising the national audience demons that started last season with their blowout losses to the Los Angeles Rams and rival Atlanta Falcons.
Jalon Daniels played a clean game under center against Dallas, outperforming one of the best and most highly paid quarterbacks in the NFL in Dak Prescott. But he wasn't even the big star of the show for the Buccaneers, as that honor has to go to Bucky Irving.
After hitting the Cleveland Browns for 89 rushing yards in a solid Week 2 performance, Irving was poor and did not even hit four yards per carry as he was crashing into clouds of dust in losses to the NFC North's Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. But with a much easier matchup against the Dallas defense, Irving had one of the best games of his career, and he looked so shifty and explosive en route to 165 rushing yards on 21 carries with a touchdown to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense to victory and their first truly successful day.
Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker's involvement in Buccaneers offense helped Bucky Irving run all over the Cowboys
The Buccaneers know that Irving is their feature back, but they actually found the merits of getting Sean Tucker and Kenny Gainwell involved with some sprinklings. Irving can do it all as a runner, but he has a real shifty back in Gainwell who can kill teams with open space and also has Tucker to hammer down the inside of the defense with pure bruising strength.
Irving's lightning and thunder combo behind him helped the main back in Tampa Bay steamroll the Cowboys defense. Gainwell had 4 carries for 18 yards and Tucker 5 carries for 18 yards, and while Irving was more efficient than both backups, of course, taking those 9 carries and giving them to Irving for an even 30 on the day would not have been better for the Buccaneers.
Because throwing in the other backs kept the defense off balance, ensured Irving would be fresh, and attacked the Cowboys defense in a different way. Irving benefited from both a better offensive line but also from more carries to the other backs while still keeping him as the 1A in the rotation.
Plus, the Buccaneers are going to be a better team and score more points overall if they keep making the ground attack central. Irving is the best player on this offense right now, and giving the running game more importance will help everyone.
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