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Last in the NFL in rushing offense each of the last two years, the Bucs offered no indication of an upgrade 30 minutes into Sunday's game.
But in the final moments, things went from pedestrian to potent.
Held to 31 yards on 15 carries in the first half, the Bucs finished with 112 rushing yards on 30 carries, thanks primarily to some effective alternating of 5-foot-10, 195-pound rookie Bucky Irving and third-year counterpart Rachaad White on the team's final scoring drive.
After dashing off right guard for 8 yards on the drive's opening play, Irving (nine carries, 62 yards) darted off right tackle for 31 yards, prompting chants of "Buck-ee" from the Raymond James Stadium crowd. He also had an 11-yard run on the possession before White amassed 9 yards on two carries on first and goal from the 10, setting up Baker Mayfield's 1-yard scoring pass to Mike Evans in the end zone's right corner.
White had only 31 yards on 15 attempts, but had six catches for 75 yards. "I thought we got it going," Bowles said. "We had some good 3-, 4- and 5-yard runs early. We need to run it late and we ran it late, which was great. The 1-2 punch with Rachaad and Bucky is kind of how we planned it to be. One gets tired and the other one goes and picks each other up, so that was positive."
For openers, a franchise record
On a searing early-September afternoon at Raymond James Stadium, humidity converged with history. For the fourth consecutive season, the Bucs' opened with more of a splash than a splat.
Sunday's 37-20 triumph against the Commanders was Tampa Bay's fourth consecutive season-opening win, setting a franchise record. The Bucs previously had won three openers in a row only three times (including 1979-1981 and 2016-2018) and remain below .500 (23-26) in season debuts.
The last four openers: 31-29 vs. the Cowboys at home (Sept. 9, 2021), 19-3 at Dallas (Sept. 11, 2022), 20-17 at Minnesota (Sept. 10, 2023) and Sunday's triumph, which featured their third-highest scoring output in a season opener.
"We had to kick some field goals (Sunday)," Bowles said. "We can score some points, we want to be better than that. It was great for the first game, just to get out and get our feet wet, but we have some things to work on there and we've got to be better than that."
Joey Knight, Tampa Bay Times, published 9 September 2024
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