The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had three running backs active for their Week Four game against the Green Bay Packers, and all three contributed to the best offensive positions in a 17-14 loss, a 54-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter and an 84-yard march to the end zone that ended early in the fourth quarter.
Bucky Irving led the Buccaneers in rushing with 61 yards and was a catalyst in that second successful possession, the team's longest touchdown drive of the season so far, carrying the ball on five of the 12 plays. Rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels ended that drive with a scrambling third-down pass to Kenny Gainwell, who caught the ball at the first-down sticks and then dived into the end zone. Earlier in the game, Sean Tucker got the Bucs on the board and temporarily tied things up, 7-7, with a rugged two-year touchdown run. It was Gainwell's first score as a Buccaneer and Tucker's first of the season after he led the team with eight scores last year.
That division of key moments does not mean there was an equal distribution of snaps, however. Irving started the game and played a total of 37 of the 63 offensive snaps. He has gotten the lion's share of backfield opportunities throughout the first month of the season, driven by the fact that he has been perhaps the Bucs' most consistently productive players on offense. Gainwell wasn't too far behind with 27 snaps but he was only given three handoffs. Tucker scored on the only stretch in which he was on the field, with three plays and three carries for 10 yards at the end of that drive. In addition to the touchdown run, he also kept the drive alive with an eight-yard down to the 11 on fourth-and-one.
Through four games, Irving has played 159 snaps and Gainwell has played 108, with the two backs occasionally on the field together, as they were for the first play of Sunday's game. Prior to his three snaps against the Packers, Tucker had logged one just one play on offense, in part because he missed the season opener with a minor hamstring injury.
While Irving is likely to remain the lead back as long as he's healthy, Head Coach Todd Bowles does see the potential of splitting the reps a bit more evenly. Primarily, that means getting Tucker more involved, particularly if he does will with the first few reps he gets. Bowles and the Buccaneers like Tucker's powerful, downhill rushing style, which is what led to him becoming the de facto goal-line and short-yardage back last season. In addition to his eight touchdowns, Tucker ran 86 times for 320 yards and caught eight passes for 34 yards in 2025. In 2024, he took 50 handoffs for 308 yards and two scores while adding nine catches for 109 yards. He has a career average of 4.3 yards per carry and has 10 touchdowns on just 154 carries.
"I mean, he's tough," said Bowles. "He needs to earn a few reps. I mean, we've got to find a way to split the three backs kind of…it doesn't have to be equally, but, you know, a hot hand should be able to ride a little bit longer – the same thing we discussed."
Tucker's touchdown run against the Packers, in which he started between the tackles before making a sharp sideways cut before accelerating quickly over left tackle, was his first big play of the 2026 season. It could lead to him getting more plays overall.
