Tony Dungy Lauds Bucky Irving
October 14th, 2024
Buccaneers Ring of Honor head coach Tony Dungy was grading the Bucs’ 2024 season last night on NBC and called out two players.
After praising head coach Todd Bowles, the first player Dungy mentioned was Baker Mayfield, and then he turned to rookie running back sensation Bucky Irving.
“Baker Mayfield’s been very good all year, but I’ll tell you who’s giving them a lift: Bucky Irving,” Dungy said. “He’s making some plays in the passing game. He’s making great runs. He’s just energizing them.”
Dungy reminded his audience that he lives in Tampa, and he praised the Bucs’ coming together and blowing out the Saints while dealing with the real-life concerns brought by a looming hurricane.
Dungy’s grade? He gives the Bucs a “B” through six games. Dungy also was clear that grade would be an “A” had the Bucs not imploded in Atlanta 11 days ago.
Retired All-Pro safety Rodney Harrison, Dungy’s NBC colleague, gave the Bucs a “B+” for their 4-2 record and their handling of the past week.
October 14th, 2024 at 5:02 pm
Jason could serve the team well by getting Dungy to spend some time identifying the root causes behind the all-too-frequent dudes running across the middle wide open and make Todd implement the recommendations to fix the defects
October 14th, 2024 at 5:04 pm
Bucs God please let this be a real thing. We deserve a young, scrappy RB. Minus the fumble against ATL that indeed would have won the game had he not fumbled, he has been a breath of freah air. Go F’n Bucs!
October 14th, 2024 at 5:04 pm
Isn’t it Rodney Harrison?
October 14th, 2024 at 5:10 pm
It has been almost 3 years and I have yet to hear a coach praise Rachaad White as a runner. Bowles needs to cut his love for white and move him to 3rd string.
October 14th, 2024 at 5:15 pm
We are following the Falcons…simple as that.
October 14th, 2024 at 5:21 pm
B for a team at 4-2 and who they picked to have a 9-8 record.
Love Dungy but people got to start owning up.
October 14th, 2024 at 5:58 pm
Seems like a B is reasonable. A (B) to me suggests there is room for improvement. Anyone suggesting the Bucs are better than a (B) right now aren’t paying attention. The coaching has been suspect on several occasions. The play calling has been questionable at times. The running game has just finally showed up & defensively we can’t seem to cover the middle of the field. I’m not down on the team. I think we see the improvements & more importantly the possibility of this team really making some noise once they put it all together.
GO BUCS!!!
October 14th, 2024 at 5:59 pm
Hopefully Bucky’s fumble against Atl was a learning experience for him and the rest of the team. I don’t know that I have ever seen a defense as aggressive as Atlanta’s last week trying to punch out the football during tackles. Some plays you would see several players punching at the ball during the same tackle. They kept at it all game long until it finally worked and cost us the game.
October 14th, 2024 at 6:16 pm
Always admired Tony. Good man. So if the Bucs win the Falcons at home, they could be rated ‘A’ in the eyes of Tony. The B+ from Harrison is great too.
October 14th, 2024 at 6:26 pm
Hey Joes, Tony Dungy is also in the HOF in Canton. Rich McKay hiring him back in the late 1990s was right on. His family loves the Tampa area. He talks, I listen. I notice he praised Bowles. Maybe that ought to be more contagious on this site. Raheem Morris and the Falcons were gunning for the Bucs. Bucky made a rookie mistake. Morris has to bring the birds down here to play the Bucs. It will be a dawg fight, and Bucky and the Bucs will be ready.
October 14th, 2024 at 6:38 pm
The team is being to gell , they are realizing themselves that if they keep at it they are on the something SPECIAL!
October 14th, 2024 at 6:45 pm
Tony wouldn’t know offense if his job depended on it.
October 14th, 2024 at 6:46 pm
They kept at it all game long until it finally worked and cost us the game.
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The fumble did NOT cost us the game, we had plenty of opportunities to win that game on both sides of the ball.
October 14th, 2024 at 6:47 pm
If anyone was wrong, it was Rod Munch. He said Sean Tucker would never amount to anything other than a garbage truck driver.. Rod said put Sean Tucker in with the starting line and he would do way worse than any of the other running backs.
Sorry Rod I had to rub that one in.. lol
October 14th, 2024 at 7:06 pm
They played like an A team for most of the game Sunday, but clearly not an A average for all 6 games so far. The total arse whipping by the Broncos and the melt down in Atlanta bring us down a notch. The upcoming Monday night game will be a good barometer of where we are now. GO BUCS!!
October 14th, 2024 at 7:29 pm
Keep rotating the rbs (all 3) , also keep a trick play in. Tucker is a Damm good back don’t loose him, white best to step up his game, no vision.
October 14th, 2024 at 8:22 pm
Dungy is a homer he’ll always love the former ducks
October 14th, 2024 at 8:47 pm
go bucky go…
run bucky run…
score bucky score…!
October 14th, 2024 at 9:14 pm
No link?
Love this 2009 JBF nostalgia.
Cheers!
October 14th, 2024 at 9:19 pm
Hey Joe, by any chance was that one of the Glazer boys that Bucky ran over when he went out of bounds?
October 14th, 2024 at 9:29 pm
Bucky has been awesome. Tucker was very impressive – he looks like he could be the real deal too. Bruiser with speed!
RW will be playing again soon and he’ll be great too if the O-line keeps blocking like this and Liam keeps scheming up the run game as well as he has lately.
Fingers crossed!
October 14th, 2024 at 9:37 pm
Power back on, so got to see more than just highlights. Bucky Irvin is something Special
October 14th, 2024 at 9:43 pm
I have defended White as a patient runner saying if the line just open holes a little better he’ll be good… I stand corrected. The twitchy quickness of Bucky and the explosive quickness of Tucker… White should be third string until they can get a third rounder for him.
The have one heck of a 1-2 Punch in the running game. Those two with an offensive line that should just slowly get better and better as they gel… Barring injuries… Exciting!!
October 14th, 2024 at 10:00 pm
Sp. Bucky Irving is our #1
October 14th, 2024 at 10:05 pm
Tuck & Buck. New RB1 & RB2!
October 14th, 2024 at 10:12 pm
I also said Tucker wouldn’t pan out. Not afraid to admit when I’m wrong just as never be afraid to call out poor performance, and regression rather than improvement.
Time for the defense to put a couple games in a row together of “stout” – though in the current “era” I can’t say I know what that looks like, unless giving up gazillions of yards against Bo Nix, Cuzzins and the first half of Rattler’s first ever game is stout.
October 14th, 2024 at 10:24 pm
No love for the guy who in his first game with real time had almost 200 yards from scrimmage
October 15th, 2024 at 12:14 am
Buck and Tuck
October 15th, 2024 at 12:31 am
Offense rules.
October 15th, 2024 at 2:20 am
I’m pretty confident Dungy recognizes grade B football when he sees it.
October 15th, 2024 at 4:59 am
“Baker been very good all year” … clearly hasn’t been watching much of him. Major glimpses of that inconsistent poor decision making Baker last game which lead to the 3 INTs and pure luck he didn’t throw more. He’s gonna have to do a lot more to prove he’s a sb level qb. To be fair at least they weren’t chuck and duck INTs like Daniel Jones last night.
October 15th, 2024 at 6:12 am
@Dave Pear… someone could correct if I’m wrong on this website, but Dungy’s style of defense, Tampa2, minus the excessive blitzing Bowles does to create pressure was similar in that it was predominantly a zone coverage scheme predicated on a 4-man rush getting to the passer, which would either cause a sack and/or an int for the secondary. Meaning? With our 4-man front, in the Tampa 2, we be getting eaten alive. We saw this when Lovie returned to Tampa with the Tampa2 and we didn’t have the consistent pass rush up front. It felt like teams were averaging 30 pts against us, it was brutal.
Regardless of how frustrating it is, I like Bowles commitment to disruption, vs waiting for the 4-man front to eventually get home while receiving death from a thousand cuts. All it takes is one QB mistake, one errant throw, one sack, and the game will change. Rarely does it look as bad as the ATL game.
October 15th, 2024 at 7:37 am
On that one run that featured Baker blocking down field, Bucky broke more tackles than White has all year
October 15th, 2024 at 7:51 am
Yall thi k we got a good running game because of one game huh? Wow
October 15th, 2024 at 9:41 am
The next upcoming 4 games will the stiffest for the Bucs. The Falcons game is a must and winnable game. San Francisco has some key injuries making a Bucs win attainable. Those 2 wins could split the upcoming 4 games.
Going out on a limb, it’s possible for the Bucs to beat the Chiefs who are short on good receivers.
If that happens, that would be 3-1 with the Bucs improving to 7 and 3 record.
October 15th, 2024 at 10:16 am
C what I mean baker has us at 4&2 & we have jackass’s saying he is inconsistent,he was fabulous against the falcons he certainly gave us the opportunity to win this game inconsistency doesn’t get u 30 points on average every game all I heard last year was if we get 25 points a game we will be above the Frey he just can’t make everyone happy u must b a traskie ask Trask himself if he thinks the bucs have the rite QB 1
October 15th, 2024 at 1:01 pm
Dungy never gave up 500 yards passing to anyone. Dungy could fix defects. Dungy also actually played a lot more cover three and quarters than cover two until a team got in the red zone, per Ronde Barber. Todd could use some help, he doesn’t know how to fix something when it’s broken. Bo Nix. Kirk Cousins. Rattler in his first game, first half. Atrocious
October 15th, 2024 at 3:40 pm
Irving reminds me of Warrick Dunn. You keep it up, young man!
October 15th, 2024 at 9:20 pm
Maybe by the end of the season the Bucs will be thought to have a better backfield than the Falcons. I am beginning to think so already.