The Bengals opened the season with a 33-27 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the game offered a pretty clear snapshot of what this team looks like right now.
Start with the defense, because that side of the ball set the tone. After an offseason full of speculation, there’s at least one thing we can say with confidence: this group is hungry and confident.
It’s not clean yet. The Bengals were still missing tackles, and they got hit with multiple offsides flags.
But they were also aggressive, willing to gamble, and eager to turn mistakes into momentum.
That edge showed up in the numbers. Cincinnati came away with four fumbles and four sacks, and three early fumble recoveries helped build the cushion that mattered most. It had the feel of those 2021 and 2022 defenses that could bend without fully breaking, then steal a possession or two and hand the offense a boost.
On offense, Joe Burrow’s interception stood out because it didn’t look like the kind of mistake you normally expect from a quarterback with his football IQ. The cleanest read is that he simply needs real regular-season reps to get back into rhythm. That fits with how little the seventh-year quarterback played in the preseason.
The encouraging part for Cincinnati is that Burrow still did enough to leave Week 1 with a win. If this is the version of the offense before it fully settles in, there’s reason to think it can improve from here.
The target distribution also told a story. With Ja’Marr Chase drawing the attention of Tampa Bay’s secondary and seeing only four targets, Burrow worked elsewhere.
Chase Brown matched Tee Higgins with six targets, while Mike Gesicki led the team with seven. Drew Sample, Andrei Iosivas, and Samaje Perine each got three looks, and Dohnte Meyers and Tanner Hudson were targeted once apiece.
The Bengals also leaned into balance. They finished with 27 runs and 35 passes, and the way that split played out lines up with talk of a more traditional offensive approach with Dan Pitcher more involved in play design. At this point, it looks like that shift is real.
In Other News...
Bengals Win Hid A Surprising Early Grade Split
Pro Football Focus Week 1 grades offered a revealing snapshot of Cincinnatis win over Tampa Bay, and the offensive and defensive takeaways did not line up neatly. Mike Gesicki paced the offense with a 90.1 overall grade, giving the Bengals a clear bright spot in the passing game, while Joe Burrows 66.1 grade was a more middling note for a quarterback whose team still found a way to leave with a win.
On the other side of the ball, Barrett Carter and Boye Mafe both landed above 77, with Carter posting a career-high 80.5, and Dexter Lawrence added a strong 77.6 grade along with three pressures. The overall picture was less tidy for Cincinnatis defense, though, because some familiar names came in much lower, including Myles Murphy and Jonathan Allen, leaving the Bengals with a useful early reminder that a victory can still come with a split verdict underneath it. [Read more 🡒]
Russell Wilson Just Pushed Bengals Fans Into A Joe Burrow Debate
Russell Wilsons first turn as an NFL Today analyst on CBS stirred things up in Cincinnati almost immediately, and not because of anything he said about his own future. Wilson floated the idea that if the Bengals dont perform well this year, Joe Burrow could be gone, a comment that landed loudly with a fan base that already treats every Burrow development like a franchise referendum.
Burrow is under contract through 2029 and has publicly said he is committed to the Bengals, which is why Wilsons speculation set off so much pushback on social media. For Bengals fans, the debate is less about what Burrow has said and more about how much outside noise it takes before a star quarterback becomes the subject of one more round of anxious what-ifs. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Finally Looked Complete But One Week 1 Debate Isnt Going Away
For one Sunday, the Bengals looked a lot closer to the finished product they spent the summer trying to build. Cincinnati handled Tampa Bay 33-27 behind four defensive takeaways and an offense that was steady enough to complement the pressure the defense created, with Joe Burrow moving better and the new faces on that side of the ball showing up right away.
Still, even after a win that checked a lot of boxes, one Week 1 discussion did not go away. The performance was encouraging enough to give the Bengals a real early-season foundation, but it also left just enough room for the kind of debate that tends to follow this team when the opener is over and the league starts picking apart what worked, what didn't, and what comes next. [Read more 🡒]