Rookie Bucky Irving relishes opportunity to help Buccaneers any way he can against skidding Raiders
TAMPA, Fla. -- - Bucky Irving isn't choosy.
The rookie running back relishes any opportunity he gets to contribute to the success of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have rebounded from a tough stretch to climb back into a tie for first place in the NFC South.
Irving leads NFL rookies in rushing with 732 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry while sharing the workload with starter Rachaad White and third-stringer Sean Tucker, who have combined to ease some of the burden on quarterback Baker Mayfield.
A fourth-round draft pick out of Oregon, Irving is coming off rushing for a season-best 152 yards and a touchdown in last week's 26-23 overtime win over the Carolina Panthers.
He had another 33 yards receiving, giving him a rookie-leading 1,017 total yards from scrimmage through 12 games.
The Bucs (6-6) on Sunday host the Las Vegas Raiders (2-10), who have an outstanding newcomer of their own with Brock Bowers on the verge of breaking the league's record for catches by a rookie tight end.
Bowers leads all players, regardless of position, with 84 receptions. He's fourth with 884 yards receiving and second behind Irving among rookies with 895 total yards from scrimmage.
"I don't really like taking all the credit. It's those guys up front," Irving said, deferring to Tampa Bay's improved offensive line. "I think I have to do something special for those guys for Christmas because they're getting the job done."
The Bucs are eighth in the NFL in rushing at 137.2 yards per game. They've gained 100-plus yards on the ground in nine of 12 games after only doing it nine times in 34 games over the past two seasons.
Irving, whose ability to make defenders miss and accelerate in the open field, has provided a spark to an offense that sputtered without injured wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin during a four-game losing streak.
It doesn't seem to bother the rookie that he still sits behind White on the depth chart. The starter had a 38-yard run in overtime to set up the winning field goal last week.
Coach Todd Bowles continues to stress that the Bucs, tied with Atlanta for the NFC South lead, need both Irving and White to be successful.
"In our room, all our success is one," said Irving, who in the past two weeks became the first rookie since Miles Sanders in 2019 to string together consecutive games with 150-plus yards from scrimmage.
"If I'm having success,'' Irving added, "everybody in the room is having success."
Bracing for a challenge
Tampa Bay's porous secondary figures to be tested by Bowers, the first tight end to lead the league in catches after Week 13 since Todd Christenson in 1986.
The first-round draft pick out of Georgia needs three receptions to break Sam LaPorta's season record (86 in 2023) for catches by a tight end. He's 116 yards away from joining Mike Ditka (1,076 in 1961) and Kyle Pitts (1,026 in 2021) as the only rookie tight ends to finish with 1,000-plus yards receiving.
"I thought he was one of the best tight ends coming out in a long time - not just this draft, but in a long time," Bowles said.
"He's living up to expectations. He can play wideout, he can play tight end, he can do some fullback, he can run jet sweeps," the Bucs coach added. "They do a lot of things with him and he's a very talented guy."
Getting ready for Baker
The last time the Raiders went against Mayfield was two seasons ago when he came off a plane to play for the Los Angeles Rams.
Despite having minimal time with the playbook and just one brief practice, Mayfield rallied the Rams to a 17-16 victory on a 23-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left.
Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was the team's linebackers coach at the time.
"He plays the game kind of like Brett Favre, who I played against in (the) league," Pierce said. "He's very fiery. He'll do whatever it takes to make a play. The play's never dead with him. You've got to keep your eyes on him and then stay in coverage, so that'll be a challenge."
Return to action
Raiders quarterback Aidan O'Connell didn't look as though he had missed nearly six weeks because of a broken thumb when he almost led Las Vegas to a victory at Kansas City last week.
He completed 23 of 35 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns in the Raiders' 19-17 loss to the Chiefs.
But O'Connell had a hard time looking at the positives given how close the Raiders came to beating the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.
"Definitely some good plays, but it just stinks more than anything," O'Connell said. "It was just a really hard loss. Even sometimes when you have a game right after, it's easier to move on. But we had a longer week this week and so kind of really got to sit in it and it's no fun."
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AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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