Bengals vs. Buccaneers Week 1: Four Takeaways and Evan McPherson's Big Leg Sink Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield signed a $165 million extension earlier in the week, then spent the first half in Cincinnati handling the football like it was a hot potato. Three straight Tampa Bay possessions ended in fumbles. Three straight times, the Bengals turned the mistake into a touchdown. By the 5:32 mark of the second quarter, it was 21-3.

Final: Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27. Cincinnati's rebuilt defense forced four turnovers, Evan McPherson made all four of his field goals, including bombs from 55 and 58 yards, and Joe Burrow threw for 254 yards and a touchdown as the Bengals held on Sunday. Tampa Bay pulled within six with 3:19 left. Cincinnati never gave the ball back.

The Claw Machine Finally Paid Out

Tampa's opening drive went fine: 11 plays, 56 yards and a 34-yard Chase McLaughlin field goal. Then the Bengals' new-look front showed up. Myles Murphy and Barrett Carter split a sack of Mayfield, the ball squirted loose, and linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. scooped it at the 27 and took off down the sideline for his first NFL touchdown.

“Somebody swiped my leg, so I’m thinking, ‘Please don’t go down right here.’ Like they say, a lesser athlete would have fallen, but it was an amazing opportunity,” Knight said.

Next series, Bryan Cook knocked the ball out of Bucky Irving's hands after a catch, and Boye Mafe ended up with it at the Tampa 33. Seven plays later, Burrow hit Mike Gesicki for a 2-yard score. Next series after that, Mayfield tried to stretch a scramble near the goal line, Carter stripped him at the Cincinnati 4, and Cook recovered in the end zone for a touchback. The Bengals marched 80 yards the other way, and Chase Brown finished it with a 5-yard run.

Tampa Bay did punch back. Irving scored from 10 yards out before halftime, and after McPherson's 55-yarder made it 27-10, McLaughlin hit from 51 and rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter jumped a Burrow out route intended for Andrei Iosivas and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown. Suddenly it was 27-20 with 2:16 left in the third.

Gesicki, Burrow and a Kicker With Range for Days

Burrow finished 25 of 35 for 254 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and if you take away the opening three-and-out, the pick-six and the clock-killing finale, every Bengals possession produced points. He was blunt about the one blemish. “If I didn’t have that interception, I’m feeling great walking out here. Can’t make plays like that, so I got to get that fixed,” he said.

Gesicki was his favorite option, with five catches for a team-high 78 yards and the touchdown, including three grabs for 52 yards on the two-minute drive that set up McPherson's 20-yarder right before halftime. Tee Higgins chipped in three catches for 59 yards, while Ja'Marr Chase was held to two catches for 12. Burrow said Tampa Bay was sending extra help Chase's way, and the offense simply took what was left.

McPherson was the real headliner, though. He went 4 for 4, scored 15 points and became the first kicker in Bengals history with two field goals of 55 yards or more in a single game. His 58-yarder ties for the fourth-longest kick in team history, per the Bengals, and the whole day earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. When the opponent's 40 counts as scoring range, every drive gets easier.

Free-agent additions Cook and Mafe each forced a fumble and recovered one, and Carter forced one of his own. Zac Taylor spent the offseason promising this defense would be different. It took one quarter to prove it.

The Fourth-Quarter Strip That Ended It

The Bengals answered the pick-six like they had rehearsed it. McPherson drilled the 58-yarder early in the fourth to make it 30-20. Then Mafe sacked Mayfield, knocked the ball free, and T.J. Slaton Jr. recovered at the Tampa 44. That turnover produced McPherson's fourth field goal and a 33-20 lead with 5:19 left.

Mayfield made it interesting with a 9-yard scramble for a touchdown, but Cincinnati's closing drive was a clinic: eight plays, 59 yards, every Tampa Bay timeout burned, and an 18-yard Burrow strike to Higgins on second-and-10 that pushed the ball to the Bucs 26. A Burrow sneak and a kneel finished it.

Three Numbers That Decided It

• 24: Points Cincinnati scored off Tampa Bay turnovers.
• 3: Straight opponent possessions ending in a Bengals fumble recovery, something the team says it hadn't done since Week 1 of the 2007 season.
• 23 of 28: Mayfield's passing line, which looks great until you remember he lost three fumbles.

A New Defense, and a Rough Look for a New Contract

For Cincinnati, this was the kind of win the franchise had been missing: offense, defense and special teams all pulled weight. The Bengals have now won their opener in back-to-back seasons, and per the team, Sunday's 33 points were their most in an opener since 2018. They visit Houston next.

“You felt their presence, all of them today,” Taylor said of the defensive newcomers. “It was fun to watch those guys get in the action and create all those turnovers.”

Per the AP, it's the first time Mayfield has lost an opener in his four seasons with the Bucs, and he didn't dodge the blame, admitting “it’s (me) holding on to the ball too long.” Cornerback Jacob Parrish also hurt his back in the second quarter, and Todd Bowles said he'll have an MRI. The Bucs host Cleveland next week.

The silver lining is Trotter. The AP notes he's the first player with a sack and a pick-six in his NFL debut since sacks became official in 1982. “Good play on his part. It’s a play he blew from practice. He learned from it and made a play from there,” Bowles said.

Who Dey, Who Kicks

Bryan Cook, a Cincinnati kid playing for his hometown team, captured it best. “It was the second gear that we had, but that was kind of like a statement,” he said, adding that “to come out and win like that, it’s a beautiful thing.”

Lately, the Bengals have been the team that needed Burrow to drag them across the finish line. On Sunday, the defense played claw machine champion, the kicker turned 58 yards into a layup, and the quarterback got to be the closer. That's a much better business model.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Associated Press. Additional notes from Bengals.com.