The Bucs left Cincinnati with a 33-27 loss, but one part of their defense came away looking better than anyone expected. Tampa Bay’s secondary, a group that had been viewed as a possible soft spot heading into the opener, ended up carrying itself like a strength.
Zyon McCollum set the tone. The veteran corner, who needed a bounce-back season, finished second on the team with nine tackles and added one tackle for loss and two pass breakups. Jacob Parrish was right there with him before a back injury forced him out early, logging two tackles and a pass breakup in limited action.
Parrish’s exit opened the door for Benjamin Morrison, another second-year corner who arrived with plenty of questions attached. A second-round pick out of Notre Dame, Morrison has been slowed by injuries throughout his young career.
That carried over into the preseason, when he missed most of training camp and didn’t appear until Tampa Bay’s final preseason game. There was still uncertainty about whether he’d be ready for regular-season action.
For one week, Morrison answered it. He posted four tackles, one tackle for loss and a pass breakup, and he stayed on the field.
“I thought he played very well,” head coach Todd Bowles said of Morrison. “He prepared well.
He practiced like that all week. When he got in the game, he didn’t miss a beat.
He tackled well. He covered well.
I thought he did a heck of a job.”
That production mattered even more because it came against a Bengals offense with real firepower. McCollum, Parrish and Morrison helped hold Ja’Marr Chase to two catches for 12 yards and Tee Higgins to three receptions for 59 yards. Cincinnati’s biggest damage came from tight end Mike Gesicki, who led the Bengals with five catches for 78 yards and a touchdown.
That kind of showing stood out on a day when Tampa Bay’s front couldn’t generate pressure and inside linebacker Alex Anzalone missed tackles throughout the game. The corners were one of the few clear positives.
The challenge now is keeping that standard up. The Bucs get the Browns this week, and Cleveland doesn’t bring the same level of offensive threat. But tougher receiver matchups are coming soon, including Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson in Week 3 and Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens in Week 5.
Parrish’s back injury, at least, appears manageable. The X-ray and MRI both came back negative, leaving his status tied to soreness this week. If he needs time, Tampa Bay at least has reason to feel better about McCollum and Morrison after what they showed in Week 1.
“I mean, it was good, you know, coming together,” McCollum said. “It was something that we’ve been harping on all summer and something me and Jacob and ‘B-Mo’ (Benjamin Morrison) knew coming into Week 1.
We’ve been harping on it and [have] been trying to be sharp in our coverage and everything. It sucks to not come out on the winning end of that, but it’s Week 1.
The games count now, but it’s still a long season, and we’ll clean up some of these details.”
In Other News...
Bucs Pass Rush Concern Just Got More Real With Rueben Bain Jr
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The bigger issue is that Bain is still adjusting to a new position, which adds another layer to a pass rush problem the Buccaneers could not solve against Cincinnati. One game is hardly the end of the story, but it does sharpen the question Tampa Bay brought into the season: how quickly can a young edge player make the leap from promising preseason name to someone who actually alters what opposing quarterbacks see on Sundays? [Read more 🡒]
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The contrast only looks sharper when stacked against Isaiah Likely, whose own three-year, $40 million deal with the Giants was followed by a much louder debut. Likely turned in eight receptions for 78 yards and two touchdowns, and he also drew a better run-blocking grade than Otton in 2025 from Pro Football Focus, making Tampa Bays decision at the position look more complicated than it did just a week ago. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers May Have Found The Better Answer At Offensive Coordinator
Mike McDaniel was the name most closely tied to the Buccaneers offensive coordinator opening before he took the Los Angeles Chargers job, and opening week offered an early way to compare the two directions. Tampa Bays offense under Zac Robinson looked efficient both through the air and on the ground, even with turnovers muddying the final picture, while the Bucs still came away looking like a unit with structure and rhythm.
McDaniel, meanwhile, inherited a Chargers offense that struggled to get much going against the Arizona Cardinals. One week is hardly a full verdict on any coordinator decision, but for the Buccaneers, the first glimpse under Robinson made the choice look at least as defensible as the one that got away. In a league where offensive identity can take shape quickly, Tampa Bays start suggested it may have landed on the cleaner fit. [Read more 🡒]