Should the Bucs rely on running backs Bucky Irving and Sean Tucker?

TAMPA – Three days before the season opener against the Commanders, Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen was asked how he planned to rotate running backs Rachaad White, Bucky Irving and Sean Tucker.

Coen immediately rejected the idea.

“I've done three-man rotations in the past, and man, that gets tiring — for a coach, for a play-caller,” Coen said. “Because now it’s like, OK, who’s in the game? What are they good at? What do we want to do with them?

“At the end of the day, it's Rachaad's show, and Bucky and Sean are going to get a lot of work and hopefully be efficient and do a great job when they're in there.”

Fast forward to last week, when Coen watched Tucker and Irving run over the Saints.

While White was inactive due to a foot injury, Tucker rushed 14 times for 136 yards and a touchdown while catching three passes for 56 yards and another score. Irving added 81 yards and a TD on 14 carries and caught two passes for 24 yards.

It was a remarkable performance, with the buck and tuck show producing 297 yards of total offense.

However, with White recovered and expected to play Monday night against the Ravens, Coen was asked Friday if the Bucs planned to bounce back with Irving and Tucker.

“All the boys will play; They will get replays and at the end of the day whoever gives us the best chance of winning over the course of the game will probably get the majority of the broadcasts,” he said.

Coen said he would give everyone a series at the start of the game to avoid being chased.

“Ultimately it has to be that all three of these guys get a series and whoever gives us the best chance,” he said. “This is a game where we have to break tackles and be energetic, so whoever gives us that, we will be able to handle it.”

So what changed Coen's stance on the three-man rotation?

Why submit to “exhaustion” after a record-setting performance in which the Bucs racked up 594 net yards of offense, the most in a single game? Where they ran for 277 yards, the third-most in club history, and averaged 7.9 per carry, their fourth-best performance ever?

Coen is a hot play-caller right now. But given White's 3.7-yard rushing average this season, is this plan reasonable or ridiculous?

Over the course of a 17-game season, the Bucs will need all three running backs, maybe even more. It is a position that has a high incidence of injuries and a shorter shelf life.

But why shouldn't Coen and the Bucs continue to pursue the tandem that emerged from a historic performance?

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Some of this could be political. White has been the Bucs' running back for three seasons. Despite a career average of 3.7 yards, he managed 990 yards last season. If you think players can't lose their jobs because of injury, that's what happens.

But running backs coach Skip Peete offers a different perspective. He thinks it's right to split the attempts in the same game between White, Irving and Tucker.

“When you look at college football these days, you see these guys don’t play every game,” Peete said. “All of them on the train. Bucky said when he was at Oregon they played six (backs) in the first three games. Look at any college team and they play with three and four running backs.

“I think the guys of this era are not built to play 50 plays a game. They believe they can. For 25 of them they will give you 50% and for the other 25 they will try harder because it is necessary.”

Peete, who coached running backs for the Raiders, Cowboys (twice), Bears and Rams, has experience platooning backs at the position. He rotated with Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice in Dallas. Six defenders – Tyrone Wheatley, Charlie Garner, Terry Kirby, Randy Jordan, Jon Ritchie and Zack Crockett – shared carries with the Raiders.

Peete told everyone the same thing:

“You have a role. You understand your role in this crime.”

The eyeball test shows that both Tucker and Irving are special defenders. Tucker went undrafted after a great career at Syracuse when doctors diagnosed him with a heart condition at the NFL Combine.

He was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Saints.

“(It) meant a lot,” Tucker said. “(It) just shows all the hard work I put into the game. Thank you to my O-line and my receivers out there for helping me throughout the game, but it definitely felt good and just shows the work I put in.”

Baker Mayfield appears ready to put more pressure on Tucker: “He's a guy we want to get the ball in his hands, explosive,” the quarterback said, “…we just have to get him more ball.”

One more thing: The Ravens defense is No. 1 against the run.

Can you afford to throw away one of your 10 or 12 possessions and try to defend all three players at the same time?

“I think they're all thinking in their own heads, 'I'm that guy,'” Peete said. “Their abilities are different. I think they can all succeed if they just play with themselves. Don't try to do anything special. That's not necessary. As coaches, we have to help him overcome these situations.”

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