After allowing a Tampa Bay field goal on the opening possession of the game, Cincinnati’s defense forced fumbles and recovered them on three consecutive drives. The Bengals had not done that since September 2007.
The starting linebacker duo of Knight and Barrett Carter were key during the run of first-half turnovers. Carter helped force two of the fumbles and picked up half a sack. He ended the game as Cincinnati’s second-leading tackler (eight total tackles, five solo).
Knight’s scoop-and-score lit the fuse on a rowdy Paycor Stadium crowd of 66,625.
“We got the win. That’s at the forefront,” Carter said. ”Obviously, it’s not going to be a pretty game. We’re going against multimillionaires who make lots and lots of money, and there’s a reason they make a lot of money. There’s still a lot of plays out there but as a team, we got the win. That’s what we were working the whole offseason toward. It wasn’t gonna be perfect. We knew it wasn’t gonna be all candy and rainbows, but the Bengals are 1-0.”
The next two fumbles set up the Joe Burrow-led offense for scores as tight end Mike Gesicki (five catches, 78 yards) and running back Chase Brown scored on a 2-yard reception and a 5-yard touchdown run, respectively.
Burrow was 25-of-35 passing for 254 yards and the touchdown pass to Gesicki, but he struggled at times to find his top receivers Ja’Marr Chase (two catches, 12 yards) and Tee Higgins (three catches, 59 yards). He did, however, complete passes to nine different receivers.
Burrow also tossed an interception that Tampa Bay rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter returned 38 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-20 late in the third quarter.
Evan McPherson’s 58-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter again made it a two-score lead for Cincinnati, and then the defense continued tormenting Mayfield with a fourth-quarter strip-sack by Boye Mafe, one of the Bengals’ offseason acquisitions via free agency, at the 10:41 mark in the quarter.
Defensive lineman TJ Slaton recovered the fumble inside Buccaneers territory, which led to McPherson’s fourth field goal and a 33-20 lead.
Mayfield’s scrambling cost him a fumble earlier, but he juked his way to a touchdown with 3:19 left. That brought the visitors to within 33-27. It was also the only Buccaneers touchdown Cincinnati’s defense allowed in the second half.
Even on an imperfect day for Burrow and Cincinnati’s offense, it was able to bleed out the game clock on the next possession. Along the way, an 18-yard reception by Higgins keyed Cincinnati’s game-ending drive to preserve the win.
“That’s as big of a catch as you’re ever going to see,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “That’s a great win. Wasn’t perfect … (rarely is) in Week 1. … Excited for the win.”
The Bengals only punted once all day.
