By james art 
There have been many calls for more Bucky Irving, and Joe doesn’t have in mind the many tens of thousands of Bucks fans who chant the rookie’s name every week.
BOO-key! BOO-key! BOO-key! can be heard in the ballpark and in sports bars and lounges from Lakeland to Largo.
One man firmly in the Irving camp is retired Bucs guard Ian Beckles (1990-1996). He watches film of the Bucks and can’t understand why Irving isn’t used more often.
“Bucky Irving needs to touch the ball more. I don’t know how they watch film and not give that kid the ball with 15 touches,” Beckles said In the trenches show.
“I saw him do some Barry Sanders-type moves [Sunday] “I don’t call him Barry Sanders.” … I’d like to see him get the ball and feed himself a little bit and see what this kid can do.
For those who don’t know, Sanders retired 26 years ago after 10 seasons and one could easily argue that he is the greatest running back in NFL history.
Now for the record, Irving got 16 touches on Sunday. He caught all seven of his targets and took nine passes. However, Joe knows Beckles is talking about Irving being passed the ball in the run game.
The reality is that many running backs produce more with more touches. They will get better through games when they are in a better rhythm. Irving has only one game with more than 10 shots. It was the 81 yards New Orleans showed on just 14 carries (5.8 yards per carry).
A Joe fan on Sunday said about 10 seconds before Rachaad White’s costly kickoff, “Why is White on the court?” It was an expression of disbelief that Irving wasn’t starting.
Another person calling for more touches on Irving is Sage of Tampa Bay Sports Ira Kaufman, the legendary JoeBucsFan.com columnist. You can enjoy his Monday night podcast below.
Ira Kaufman talks defensive freefall, Team Glazer thinking on Todd Bowles, positives from Sunday and more