Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers season opener at Paycor Stadium
The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33-27 in a season opener at Paycor Stadium on Sunday. The Buccaneers dug themselves a hole with three first-half fumbles, each leading to Bengals touchdowns.
The first, on a strip-sack of Baker Mayfield, was scooped up by linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr., who ran it back for a 27-yard touchdown. The Bengals went into halftime with a 24-10 lead.
The game tightened in the third quarter when Buccaneers rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter returned an interception of Joe Burrow 38 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-20. A Boye Mafe sack in the fourth quarter caused Mayfield’s third lost fumble and stopped Tampa Bay’s momentum, but Mayfield scored on a late fourth-quarter drive to pull back to 33-27 with 3:19 remaining. Burrow and the Cincinnati offense were able to drain the rest of the clock to hold onto the win.
Cincinnati’s offseason strategy on display with revamped defense
All the money and draft capital spent reimagining the Cincinnati’s defense was in action on Sunday. Nearly every well-compensated free agent or top draft pick made a big play and the players that the personnel department bet on making a jump were at the center of the game’s most impactful moments for the unit.
Let’s take a look back through the offseason.
- The Bengals paid Mafe $20 million per year. He blew up Mayfield from behind for a sack-fumble in the fourth quarter and also recovered a fumble in the first half.
- They paid safety Bryan Cook $13 million per year and he forced a fumble in the first half.
Say this for Baker Mayfield. He may fumble the football and not recover it, but he always falls on the sword. The quarterback lost three of the Bucs’ four fumbles in Sunday’s 33-27 defeat to the Bengals, who scored 21 points off the three in the first half alone.
One was returned 27 yards for a touchdown by Bengals linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. Another came at the end of a Mayfield scramble to the Cincinnati 2-yard line and was recovered in the end zone for a touchback. Running back Bucky Irving coughed up the other at the Tampa Bay 33.
This one falls on me,
Mayfield said. “I think they had 17 points just alone off my turnovers (his third came in the second half). It turns out to be a one-score game. Six points. So, offensively, it’s frustrating when you do something like that when you’re moving the ball up and down the field. But we get that fixed, I get that fixed, make those corrections, and we’ll be all right.”
Certainly, the entire team had their fingerprints on the loss, the first opening-day defeat under head coach Todd Bowles. The defense wasn’t very good, either. The Bengals only punted once, after going three-and-out on their opening possession.
Obviously, you can't turn the ball over,
Bowles said. One was a six(-pointer) when they ran (it in), and the other one was across midfield. You have four turnovers and lose by one touchdown. It wasn't just that. We had penalties. False starts there.
Barrett Carter and Myles Murphy split a sack of Baker Mayfield for an 8-yard loss. Murphy forced a fumble, and Bengals linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. raced 27 yards to the end zone with the fumble recovery. Mayfield has taken two sacks thus far and is 4-of-7 for 33 yards. He led the Bucs on a 11-play, 56-yard field-goal drive to start as Chase McLaughlin made a 34-yarder.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield against the Cincinnati Bengals
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved the ball. They scored 27 points. They never punted. And they still lost their season opener because they kept giving the ball away. Four Tampa Bay fumbles – three by quarterback Baker Mayfield – were too much to overcome in a 33-27 defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Cincinnati scored 24 points off the Tampa Bay turnovers. Mayfield, who signed a $165 million, three-year extension earlier in the week, fumbled twice on sacks and on a scramble as he was trying to reach the goal line and score.
The Bengals’ new-look defense was led by linebacker Boye Mafe and safety Bryan Cook, both signed in free agency. Both forced fumbles and recoveries while Mafe also had one of Cincinnati’s four sacks.
Joe Burrow completed 25 of 35 passes for 254 yards, one touchdown and one interception. After a three-and-out on the opening series, the seventh-year franchise quarterback directed the Bengals to points on six of their next seven drives.
His only mistake was a pick-6 by Tampa Bay rookie linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, who jumped the route on a pass intended for Andrei Iosivas and ran it back 38 yards to get the Bucs within 27-20 with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter.
Demetrius Knight Jr. fumble recovery for the Cincinnati Bengals
After Tampa Bay opened the game with a 34-yard field goal, the Bengals defense got straight to business. Myles Murphy and Barrett Carter came together, creating a sack and a fumble. Demetrius Knight Jr. scooped and scored a 27-yard fumble recovery for the first lead of the game, 7-3. In the closing half of the first, the Bengals’ defense forced another fumble for the Bucs at the hands of Cincinnati native Bryan Cook. Boye Mafe recovered the ball, setting up offense at the TB33. Burrow would find Mike Gesicki for two yards. Cincinnati closed the first quarter up, 14-3.
A play of absolute insanity would result in a Baker Mayfield fumble after scrambling up the middle for nine yards. The Bengals’ Cook would recover it this time. An offense that felt disjointed in the first quarter found pace in the second after Burrow connected with Ja’Marr Chase for 16 yards followed by shorter connections to Perine and Brown. The offensive line parted the Bucs’ defensive line, allowing Chase Brown a clear path to the end zone. Bengals up big, 21-3. The Bucs eventually found an opening of their own for seven points. Bengals ended the half on top, 24-10.
For the half, Burrow went 14/20 for 133 yards and one touchdown. Gesicki led in receptions with 54 yards and one touchdown. The third quarter’s offense reflected the first, disjointed and struggling to move downfield. Tampa Bay would make it a one-score game after intercepting Burrow’s pass to Iosivas, 27-20 in Cincinnati’s favor.
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