Buccaneers Maul Bengals 17-14 in Preseason Opener

The Buccaneers offense made some strides Saturday night in Cincinnati one could say. Albeit it is preseason week one but the Pewter Pirates rush offense didn’t look too bad. The Buccaneers rushed for 136 yards on 32 carries and passed for 254 yards going 24/38 with no touchdowns and 1 int.

Learning Experience 

Kyle Trask stated after the game: “Great learning moments and I’ll put that under my belt and move forward.”  He went on to say, “The guys that were in there no matter the rotation were in the same page and that’s nice”

Trask responded when asked about Liam Coen as a play caller, “Liam, yeah he’s been great in the head set awesome, great communicator.”

When he was asked about Payne Durham, he responded with “He worked really really hard in the offseason and he’s going to be great moving forward”

Buccaneers Rushing Attack 

The running game consisted of Bucky Irving rushing for 28 yards in 6 carries averaging 4.7 yards a carry and a TD. Sean Tucker had carries for 68 yards averaging 6.8 yards, D.J. Williams and Ramon Jefferson carried  12 carries gaining 35 yards while Jefferson had a Late Td to put the Bucs ahead late.

Pressure up the middle was a constant issue for the Buccaneers offense throughout the game!  On multiple drives there was constant pressure up the middle. At times only rushing four, the Bengals were able to pressure the quarterback, make a tackle for loss, or even sack the quarterback. That is what I’ve witnessed while watching the game.

With 10 minutes left in the game the Bengals had sacked the Buccaneers quarterbacks three times, while the Bucs failed to produce a single sack of a Bengals quarterback.

Josh Hayes gave up two huge long receptions to Jermaine Burton which could have caused the Bucs to walk away with a loss. But the scrappy defense held the Bengals to 3rd and 10 before rushing down a scambling quarterback just short of the 1st down line to seal the victory for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It will be all business once the Bucs return to practice cleaning up some of the mistakes made tonight, but until then it will be a “Victory Sunday” !! The trend has begun! Go Bucs!!!