The Bengals travelled to Tampa Bay for their preseason opener against the Bucs. The weather forecast had the league considering a change in kickoff time, but the game ended up going on as originally scheduled.
The Buccaneers received the opening kickoff and it was first team vs first team for the opening drive of the game. The Bengals starting DL, minus Ogunjobi, dominated a good Bucs OL. Rookie Joseph Ossai really stood out in his debut, showing his great burst and high motor. Hendrickson and Hubbard also looked good.
In the secondary, meanwhile, there wasn’t a ton asked of the first unit. Awuzie was pretty tight in coverage on a deep shot to Antonio Brown that fell incomplete. Brady completed his only other pass of the night to former Bengal, Giovani Bernard.
The first team offence started for the Bengals. A few starters, including Joe Burrow and Trey Hopkins were held out. Brandon Allen led the first team and looked solid overall. They started their first drive with good field position. After completing passes to Tyler Boyd and Ja’Marr Chase, the drive was cut short by a Perine fumble.
Blaine Gabbert started the second drive for the Buccaneers. The field consisted of mainly second team players for both teams, at this point. After a few incompletions, he got in a groove and led the Bucs offence down the field. The drive ended with a 2 yard TD run by Vaughn. A botched trick play led to the point after being aborted. It was 6-0 Bucs at this point.
Later in the 2nd quarter, Brandon Allen threw an interception to Hagan, but he proceeded to fumble the ball, which was recovered by Mike Thomas.
With the drive continuing on, Allen completed a 22 yard pass to Thomas. After that, small runs by both Jacques Patrick and Chris Evans, along with defensive penalties, helped lead to an eventual TD for the Bengals. It was Evans who ran in the 1 yard score. Seibert’s extra point made it 7-6 Bengals, which was the score at half time.
In the 3rd quarter, S Trayvon Henderson intercepted a tipped Ryan Griffin pass to get the Bengals offence back on the field.
It was Kyle Shurmur who at this point was in at QB for the Bengals. On this drive, he threw an interception, but it was disallowed due to a defensive penalty. The drive eventually ended with an Evan McPherson field goal to make the score 10-6 Bengals.
Another Bengals interception, this time by S Kavon Frazier, led to an Austin Seibert field goal, making it 13-6 Bengals.
After the Bengals forced Tampa Bay to punt, passes from Shurmur to Trent Irwin and Chris Evans contributed to another field goal drive. This kick was by Evan McPherson, and it made the score 16-6.
Early in the 4th quarter, the game became tighter thanks to an interception thrown by Shurmur that was returned for a TD. A successful 2 point conversion made the score 16-14 in favour of the Bengals.
The two teams traded punts before one final score in the closing moments. It was yet another field goal for the Bengals, this time by Austin Seibert. This made the score 19-14, which is how the game ended.
The Bengals will travel to Washington for their second preseason game this Friday.
Modified Homescreen Image Via: Erik Drost (CC)