WEEK 1 DISAPPOINTMENT: BUCS GIVE AWAY BALL AND GAME TO BENGALS

ehinote · 2026-09-13T21:16:37Z

Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27There it is. Week 1 is in the books, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened the 2026 regular season with a 33-27 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium. And while the final score is close enough to suggest a competitive game, the reality is that the Bucs gave this one away. Against a Bengals team that didn't even play their best football, Tampa Bay found enough ways to lose that this one stings in a very particular way. Let's break it down honestly. FOUR FUMBLES: YOU CANNOT DO THATLet's start with the number that defines this game more than any other. Four fumbles. Four. Baker Mayfield lost three of them, a new career-high in a single game, including a costly fumble at the goal line when the Bucs were threatening to cut into Cincinnati's lead. Bucky Irving lost the fourth, trying to squeeze something out of a play that had nowhere to go and paying the price for it.Cincinnati harassed Baker all game long, finishing with four sacks and six quarterback hits.That is simply not sustainable football. You cannot ask your defense to get stops while your offense is handing the ball to the opposition on a silver platter. Baker Mayfield has to develop a better internal clock in the pocket. He cannot hold onto the ball too long and absorb a hit that pops the football loose. Three fumbles in a season opener against a defense that hasn't yet found its identity is inexcusable. That has to be the number one correction before next Sunday.Irving's fumble is a different conversation but equally frustrating. Sometimes you have to take what the play gives you, take your three yards, and live to fight on the next down. Trying to create something from nothing and losing the football in the process is a costly lesson for a young running back to learn in Week 1 of a season with playoff aspirations.PASS PROTECTION: THE SAME STORY AS LAST YEARWhen the Bucs needed Baker Mayfield to drop straight back and deliver the football downfield, the offensive line could not hold up long enough to make it happen. The pocket collapsed too quickly, Baker's internal clock had no time to develop, and the Bengals' defensive line, featuring Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen, had their way in critical moments. This is not a new problem. It was a consistent issue throughout last season and it followed this team right into the 2026 opener. Getting Tristan Wirfs fully healthy and returning the starting five to peak form is the only answer. But even then, the interior needs to win more individual battles than it did Sunday. And Wirfs had his worst half of play in his career as he gave up a sack and had two false starts in the 2nd half. Definitely rusty play after not getting a rep all preseason.DEFENSIVE LINE: WHERE WAS THE PRESSURE?We heard all summer about this pass rush group. The new pieces. The depth. The killer instinct Todd Bowles kept referencing. The "Hurricane." The edge group that was going to make life miserable for NFC and AFC quarterbacks alike all season long.And then Joe Burrow stood back there all afternoon, comfortable, unrushed, and picked this defense apart.Yaya Diaby had one tackle for loss and nothing else. Rueben Bain Jr., despite the enormous preseason hype, barely registered a meaningful statistic. Anthony Nelson drew a penalty. Al-Quadin Muhammad managed to hit Burrow's arm once. The best performance from the edge position group on Sunday came from David Walker on special teams, where he made a number of impactful coverage plays. On special teams. Not on defense. On special teams.The only interior lineman who flashed anything resembling consistent pressure was Calijah Kancey, who had a few moments that reminded you what he's capable of when he wins his matchup. But a few flashes from Kancey don't compensate for an edge group that generated virtually zero penetration against a Bengals offensive line that is not considered elite. This is the Todd Bowles defensive paradox in its purest form. The cornerback room cannot be asked to consistently cover in man without a pass rush making the quarterback uncomfortable. Sunday proved that once again. THE BRIGHT SPOT: JOSIAH TROTTER IS A PLAYERAmid all the frustration, the one genuine bright spot from Sunday's performance was rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter. He started the game looking a little lost, understandable for a second-round pick in his very first NFL regular season game, but he grew into the contest in a major way as the afternoon progressed.It was Trotter's pass rush via a third-down sack on Cincinnati's previous drive that halted the drive and forced a kick. It would be his pass coverage that provided the dagger on Cincinnati's next possession. Joe Burrow audibled to a pass, but Trotter undercut a short pass underneath and returned it all the way to the end zone for the score.A pick-six. Game on in Cincinnati. 27-20.That pick-six was the play of the game for the Buccaneers, bringing them within seven and giving the crowd at Paycor Stadium a genuin...

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Posted by: @donkey_hunter

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2 of those were under center plays (40% - just 5 dropbacks from under center), 5 were shotgun plays (15.6%)”

Does that mean they got more than double the pressures on "under center" plays? 40% versus 15.6 on shotgun? Just making sure I am interpreting it correctly.

That would mesh with the visuals because one dynamic is Burrows with immediate throws from shotgun (ie no chance to pressure). I would think that will repeat until it doesnt work to just throw to the flat.

Posted : Sep. 14, 2026 9:43 am

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WEEK 1 DISAPPOINTMENT: BUCS GIVE AWAY BALL AND GAME TO BENGALS

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