{"id":995173,"date":"2026-09-08T12:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/995173\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T12:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T12:39:19","slug":"buccaneers-coach-todd-bowles-delivers-blunt-admission-about-facing-joe-burrow-bengals-offense-in-week-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/995173\/","title":{"rendered":"Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles delivers blunt admission about facing Joe Burrow, Bengals offense in Week 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCincinnati Bengals<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals open their 2026 regular season Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles offers a candid assessment of what it takes to prepare for Joe Burrow and the Bengals\u2019 receiving corps ahead of the Week 1 matchup.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Joe
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAug 10, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) snaps the ball against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first half at Paycor Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKatie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals open their 2026 regular season Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It\u2019s nice to know the opposing team is having issues facing the task at hand for them: stopping Joe Burrow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles<\/a>, known for his defensive-mindedness throughout his career, offered a candid assessment of what it takes to prepare for Burrow and the Bengals\u2019 receiving corps ahead of the Week 1 matchup.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives you a headache more than anything,\u201d Bowles said Monday to reporters. \u201cPreparing for guys like that, it\u2019s exciting once you get there, but you know, those guys can give you a headache. They\u2019ve given everyone headaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowles breaks down what makes Burrow so difficult to defend<\/p>\n

Bowles has spent years scheming against the NFL\u2019s best quarterbacks. It\u2019s why he\u2019s still the guy in charge in Tampa. His respect for Burrow is incredibly evident.<\/p>\n

But Burrow doesn\u2019t just waltz onto the field and cause internal turmoil for defensive play-callers. Bowles went into detail about what separates Burrow from the rest of the league\u2019s signal-callers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the accuracy. It\u2019s his intelligence and the way he moves in the pocket,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cHe can run without running and can buy time just sliding his feet. He can get seven yards if he has to get seven, he can get 10 if he has to get 10. He\u2019s so accurate on the outside, especially with his fade balls, especially the back shoulder. Or the deep one over the top, and he puts it where only his guys can get it, and they do a great job going to get the ball. So there\u2019s probably nothing he hasn\u2019t seen. So we just got to try and play sound football and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowles recognizes that containing the Bengals\u2019 passing attack starts with limiting Burrow\u2019s ability to extend plays with subtle footwork. The 29-year-old can scramble when needed and certainly isn\u2019t a statue, but his pocket movement and spatial awareness have always been among the best in the league. It can neutralize a pass rush without any grand escape.<\/p>\n

I think this is what has gone severely underrated about Burrow throughout his career. He\u2019s an elite pocket passer not just for standing strong in the face of pressure, but knowing how to avoid it and keeping his feet clean. It\u2019s gotten lost with the inordinate sacks he takes on do-or-die downs or because his offensive line has struggled for most of the last six years.<\/p>\n

Stopping Burrow\u2019s pocket mastery is extremely difficult unless the rush just eviscerates Burrow\u2019s offensive line. That\u2019s what Bowles will be counting on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati\u2019s offense has never been the problem<\/p>\n

For all the Bengals\u2019 faults over the past few seasons, their offense with a healthy Burrow has never been the source of controversy. Cincinnati boasts a lethal combination of quarterback and wide receivers with Ja\u2019Marr Chase<\/a>, Tee Higgins, and others capable of dusting the average secondary on any given week.<\/p>\n

The Bengals are also game planning against a dangerous Tampa Bay duo of their own. Quarterback Baker Mayfield and second-year wide receiver Emeka Egbuka began growing their connection early last year, and there\u2019s still plenty of potential between them. But Bowles knows his defense has its hands full before worrying about what his own offense can produce.<\/p>\n

A reminder from the last time these teams met<\/p>\n

The last time the Buccaneers faced Burrow was late in the 2022 season during one of Tom Brady\u2019s final NFL games. The Bengals fell behind 17-3 at the half and scored 17 unanswered points in the third quarter. Burrow threw for just 200 yards but had four touchdowns, all in the second half alone. Chase and Higgins each caught one themselves.<\/p>\n

Cincinnati and Tampa Bay are completely different teams four years later, but the task for anyone facing Burrow\u2019s Bengals remains the same. Bowles is still very much aware of what makes the Bengals tough to beat.<\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

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Cincinnati Bengals News<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJa\u2019Marr Chase joins forces in backing up Joe Burrow\u2019s bold words about the Bengals\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just Joe Burrow who senses something special about the 2026 Cincinnati Bengals. Ja\u2019Marr Chase feels it as well, and made it clear on the first episode of his podcast, \u201cChasing No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals open their 2026 regular season Sunday against the Tampa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":995174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[265,228,227,256,2296,7,1577,6,6239,7763],"class_list":["post-995173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-american-football","tag-bengals","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-football","tag-joe-burrow","tag-nfl","tag-tampa-bay-bucaneers","tag-todd-bowles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117235467632333075","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995173","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=995173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/995174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}