CINCINNATI (AP\/WKRC) \u2014 The Bengals\u2019 rebuilt defense forced four turnovers, scored its first fumble-return touchdown since 2022 and helped Cincinnati beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33-27 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Demetrius Knight Jr. returned a fumble 27 yards for his first NFL touchdown, and the Bengals turned Tampa Bay\u2019s four turnovers into 24 points. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose four turnovers are a gut punch to an offense when you\u2019re out there,\u201d Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. \u201cI saw some big-time tackles by our guys, just getting the ball off.\u201d <\/p>\n
Joe Burrow said he was not surprised by the defense\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat D-line pressured the quarterback, made great plays,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got the right guys that are gonna learn from their mistakes and keep getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burrow completed 25 of 35 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown. Evan McPherson made all four of his field-goal attempts, including kicks from 55 and 58 yards, as Cincinnati won its season opener for the second straight year.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, he keeps getting better and better and better,\u201d Burrow said of McPherson. \u201cI\u2019m so happy for him to have the day that he did today. He\u2019s such a weapon for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay took an early 3-0 lead on Chase McLaughlin\u2019s 34-yard field goal, but the Bengals capitalized on the Buccaneers\u2019 next three possessions.<\/p>\n
Myles Murphy and Barrett Carter combined to sack Baker Mayfield at the Tampa Bay 26-yard line, forcing a fumble that Knight picked up and returned for a touchdown. It was Cincinnati\u2019s first scoop-and-score since Sam Hubbard\u2019s 99-yard touchdown in the 2022 AFC wild-card win over Baltimore. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo get up 14-3, I think, is big,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWe needed something to kickstart us, and that was a big play right there that kickstarted us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boye Mafe recovered Bucky Irving\u2019s fumble at the Tampa Bay 33, setting up Burrow\u2019s 2-yard touchdown pass to Mike Gesicki. <\/p>\n
Cook later recovered Mayfield\u2019s fumble in the end zone after Carter stripped the quarterback near the goal line.<\/p>\n
Chase Brown scored on a 5-yard run to give Cincinnati a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter. McPherson\u2019s 20-yard field goal made it 24-10 at halftime. <\/p>\n
Taylor praised Cincinnati\u2019s new defensive additions, including Mafe and Cook, for creating energy early in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they all \u2014 you felt their presence, all of them today,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s just really fun to watch those guys get in the action and create all those turnovers.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tampa Bay cut the lead to 27-20 late in the third quarter when linebacker Josiah Trotter returned Burrow\u2019s interception 38 yards for a touchdown. <\/p>\n
Burrow took responsibility for the interception.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I didn\u2019t have that interception, I\u2019m feeling great walking out of here,\u201d he said. \u201cCan\u2019t make plays like that, so I\u2019ve got to get that fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
McPherson answered with his 58-yard field goal early in the fourth. <\/p>\n
Mayfield\u2019s 9-yard touchdown run pulled the Buccaneers within six with 3:19 remaining, but Burrow completed an 18-yard pass to Tee Higgins on second-and-10 to the Tampa Bay 26-yard line as Cincinnati ran out the clock.<\/p>\n
Burrow said Tampa Bay\u2019s attention on Ja\u2019Marr Chase created the opportunity for Higgins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey basically doubled him there,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cThat\u2019s an alert for Tee, and Tee made a big play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor said the Bengals had emphasized the late-game situation throughout training camp. Burrow said Cincinnati recognized that Tampa Bay was playing man coverage and selling out to stop the run. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the situation, too, and we\u2019ve got to go and make plays against man coverage,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we did. Tee, Samaje (Perine), Dohnte (Meyers), big-time plays. Chase (Brown) being smart, staying in bounds on a good run. That\u2019s how you win football games.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOur guys situationally did some things we worked on for a long time, managed them really well, finished with the quarterback sneak, finished with the kneel,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Mayfield completed 23 of 28 passes for 216 yards and lost three fumbles. The loss was his first in a season opener during his four seasons with Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
“You know, it’s not perfect. Week 1 rarely is,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot of things you got to correct, but I just, I loved our guys’, um, will to win today.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI (AP\/WKRC) \u2014 The Bengals\u2019 rebuilt defense forced four turnovers, scored its first fumble-return touchdown since 2022 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1000056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2077],"tags":[211,7,6,704,250,2597,2596],"class_list":["post-1000055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-buccaneers","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaybuccaneers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117266161581009999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1000056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}