How to make a text box wider using Rails best_in_place?

I've tried doing this with the following:

<%= current_user.first_name %>
<%= current_user.last_name %>
<span class="bubble">
  <%= best_in_place current_user,
        :blurb,
        type: :textarea,
        :cols => "30",
        :rows => "50",
        :inner_class => 'occupation-edit',
        nil: 'Add a short blurb (max 140)'
  %>
</span>

However, this isn't working. Is it possible to make the text area longer as in vertical length? It seems like it's not customizable with the 'best_in_place' gem.