Not a whole lot went right for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10 of the 2025 NFL season, as the NFC Super Bowl hopefuls ran into a brick wall in the form of a revamped New England Patriots defense. Without his best weapons, particularly at the wide receiver position, Baker Mayfield couldn't quite get the job done against Drake Maye and the Pats, whose 28-23 victory was only made less impressive by the Bucs padding some stats in garbage time.
But all was not bad from the Buccaneers perspective. It's easy for the national media, as always, to get carried with their overreactions, especially when many of them came into Week 10 banging the drum that the Bucs are overrated.
Some players stepped up big time despite the lack of attention, and nobody epitomizes that more than young running back Sean Tucker. The third-stringer, Tucker got a good run out there with Bucky Irving still injured, and he looked like a better insurance policy to the Bucs star back than technical backup Rachaad White.
Bijan Robinson has nothing on him
Whereas White could only muster 38 yards on 10 carries for an average of fewer than four yards per carry, Tucker had a robust total of 50 rushing yards on 9 attempts, averaging roughly six yards per carry for the Buccaneers.
While 50 yards may not seem like much, it's a pretty good haul for a player who didn't even get 10 carries. But here's what makes what Tucker did even more impressive. As a third-stringer, Tucker did what some of the NFL's biggest stars failed to do against the Patriots, as the Underdog notes that Tucker is the first running back this entire season to rip off 50 yards on the Pats defense.
That's massive, and when you consider all of Bijan Robinson, James Cook, Rico Dowdle, De'Von Achane, and rookie sensation Ashton Jeanty couldn't even get 50 yards on the Patriots despite not only being feature backs but some of the best running backs in the NFL today, well, you really have to give Tucker a rousing ovation.
Irving may not be able to play next weekend either, and it's totally unclear when the Buccaneers starting running back will be back in action behind Baker Mayfield. So Tucker's performance against the Patriots defense should be enough to earn him more carries going forward, perhaps even when Irving makes his return to the lineup.