- Bucky Irving has his best fantasy performance of his career: Tonight was his first two-touchdown outing as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer.
- Tez Johnson leads the Buccaneers' receivers: Johnson has seen more playing time over the last two weeks, and he caught a 64-yard reception in this game.
- Both teams have injury scares: Irving and CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys missed some time in the second half due to injury, but both were able to return.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Dallas Cowboys
Bucky Irving takes goal-line snaps: Irving scored twice within five yards.
Irving was among the highest-graded running backs in his rookie season, but injuries impacted his 2025 campaign. Many fantasy managers were skeptical of Irving this year. The Buccaneers invested in a second running back in Kenny Gainwell after his breakout season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were also concerned about Irving's goal-line snaps. He only played in five of a possible 43 snaps within 5 yards last season, with Sean Tucker and Rachaad White leading the way when the Buccaneers were close to scoring.
Irving’s playing time has been just fine over the first four weeks. He played 79.6% of early-down snaps, ranking third among running backs. Gainwell has been his backup and has taken most of the third downs and two-minute drill snaps. Irving has reached at least 14 touches in every game, and Irving was able to accomplish that by the end of the third quarter in this contest.
Irving had only handled 10-of-21 short-yardage snaps, and neither of the two goal-line snaps over the first four weeks. Tucker had played four offensive snaps, and they were all in those situations, while Gainwell had taken the other plays. In this game, Irving received the first two goal-line snaps, leading to a receiving touchdown from five yards away and a two-yard rushing touchdown. Irving also broke a 72-yard run, giving him the best fantasy performance of his career.
We’ll still likely see Tucker steal a few touchdowns away from Irving this season, but it won’t be all of the short-yardage scores like last season. Tucker handled a fourth-and-1 carry at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter and didn’t convert, which could only help Irving’s case for future goal-line carries. Irving’s role is big enough to consider him a must-start going forward.
The Buccaneers continue a split at their third receiver spot: Tez Johnson and Ted Hurst III were in a constant rotation throughout the game.
Hurst is a third-round rookie who was generally considered a starter over the first three weeks. He played 74.9% of offensive snaps, which wasn’t far behind Chris Godwin Jr.’s 77.5% or Emeka Egbuka’s 81.7%. Tez Johnson was the fourth wide receiver on the depth chart, playing 25.1%. Hurst generally played X, Egbuka Z and Godwin in the slot, but all three were aligned all over the place.
Last week, Tampa Bay made a clear change, with Johnson playing 56.5% and Hurst 38.7%. This week, the split between Hurst and Johnson was nearly even, with the two consistently rotating in and out. Over the last two weeks, when Hurst has been on the field, he’s largely stuck at X, rather than moving around like the first three weeks. When Johnson has been on the field, he’s primarily played X but has moved around, similar to Hurst in the first three weeks. There was also a slight tendency for Johnson to play on early downs and Hurst on later downs.
This change has not affected Egbuka or Godwin. They are both consistently on the field in 11 personnel, and Tampa Bay has used 12 personnel to give them a break at times. That includes some plays where Egbuka and Godwin are both off the field.
Hurst was a popular late-round pick in deep leagues after significant off-season hype, but he won’t see fantasy value in this new role from the past two weeks.
The Cowboys try to get KaVontae Turpin involved: Turpin posted a season-high snap rate, particularly in the first half.
Turpin has flirted with the third wide receiver spot in Dallas in recent seasons, particularly when he was competing with Jalen Tolbert. However, Ryan Flournoy won the job last season, leaving Turpin as a clear backup. Jonathan Mingo has played more snaps than Turpin over the first four weeks, leaving Turpin fifth on the depth chart.
This week, Turpin received eight snaps in the first half alone, taking snaps away from both CeeDee Lamb and Flournoy. In that time, he caught one pass for seven yards on three targets.
The Cowboys were behind multiple scores throughout the second half. This left Dallas rotating much less than usual. Javonte Williams, George Pickens and Jake Ferguson reached season highs in snap rate, and the only reason Lamb and Flournoy didn’t also achieve season highs was because of Turpin’s first-half usage.
Turpin was able to haul in a 15-yard reception in the fourth quarter to help his stat total. It will be worth monitoring if this was part of this game plan, or if Dallas plans to have Turpin play more frequently going forward.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving and Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb missed some time in the second half due to injury. Both were able to return to the game, but didn’t see as much playing time as usual after their initial exit.
- The Cowboys released Emari Demercado earlier today. He had been their third running back and was a health inactive the last two weeks. He will likely sign to the practice squad, and he would be called up if any of the Cowboys' running backs suffer an injury.
- As usual, sixth-string rookie wide receiver Camden Brown was healthy inactive for Dallas.
- Buccaneers starting quarterback Baker Mayfield missed his second straight game with a right thumb injury. Jalon Daniels received his second start, while Easton Stick was elevated from the practice squad to be Daniels’ backup.
Table Notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, such as offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats exclude these plays.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy will be from a clearly thrown-away pass where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count toward the total number of carries in the game.
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