The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got their preseason underway on Saturday night against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.
Preseason often isn't much more than a dress rehearsal, but for those seeking to make the 53-man roster or to carve out a starting or rotational role, those reps can be invaluable. With a number of rookies involved in key battles for starting jobs or playing time, including Graham Barton, Bucky Irving, Tykee Smith, and Chris Braswell, there is plenty of reason for fans to interested in the contest.
Here are my notes from the first half of the contest.
First quarter observations:
- The Bucs were moved pretty well up front on the Bengals' opening drive. But the Bengals started pretty much their entire offense sans Ja'Marr Chase in the game. The Bucs went with reserves with the exception of Logan Hall, K.J. Britt, and Christian Izien on the first drive.
- Kaevon Merriweather was flying all over the place on the first drive. Broke up a pass in the end zone intended for Tee Higgins and had a tackle for loss.
- The officials bailed out the Bengals on third and long, flagging Josh Hayes for pass interference on a pass out of bounds that even a giraffe on his hind legs couldn't have touched. Even the officials have to shake off the rust during the preseason.
- Higgins shook Hayes in the open field and strolled by him into the end zone for the game's opening points. Had it not been for a terrible flag, would have been a field goal attempt.
- Rookie Bucky Irving had the ball go his way all three plays on the first drive. Unfortunately, it went for 4 total yards after a 4-yard run, catch for no gain, and incompletion. Not much willingness from Kyle Trask to look down the field on that third down play.
- Robert Hainsey got the start on the first drive at center, flanked by Cody Mauch and Ben Bredeson on the right and left, respectively. Graham Barton came in on the second drive for Hainsey.
- J.J. Russell had a nice tackle in the middle of the field to force a punt.
- TE Ryan Miller had a nice catch and run up the sideline for a gain of 24 yards.
- Jalen McMillen shimmied his defender and caught a nice pass from Kyle Trask for 19 yards. Timing was perfect there. He followed that up by somehow hanging onto and ripping the ball away from a Cincinnati defender two plays later.
- The following play, on third down, Trask found Trey Palmer on a deep crossing pattern and hit him in stride for a gain of 21. A very impressive second drive from the Bucs' backup QB.
- Irving rumbled up the middle for a five-yard score on second and goal. Barton, Bredeson, and Justin Skule did a great job of blocking on the left side of the line.
Second quarter observations:
- Trask extended a drive with a dart to Devin Culp between two defenders. Thrown hard and with good timing as Culp was just turning between the two defenders. Not a long throw but fit it in there really well.
- Back-to-back bad plays by the Bucs' offensive line. Brandon Walton blew a block and led to a throw away. Then, a low Hainsey snap led to a two-yard loss.
- Then, on third and 12, Trask threw for Miller on a deep out, but a Bengals defender had underneath coverage and picked it off easily. Derailed what had been a promising first half for Trask.
- Vi Jones had nice pressure on third and 8 and forced Jake Browning to scramble and throw it short of the sticks to force a punt.
- Sean Tucker had back-to-back runs to pick up a first down. Ran with good burst and power.
- Trask made up for his interception with the play of the half. With a defender in his face, he lobbed a deep ball right in stride to Rakim Jarrett for a 28-yard gain. That looked like a pass from another quarterback Trask used to play with not very long ago.
- Tucker followed that up with a very nice run to the right side, but it was called back for a hold on Walton. A bad quarter for #73.
- Chase McLaughlin hit a knuckleball that clanged off the upright from 51 yards.
- Keenan Isaac made a big play on the following series, running stride for stride with the Bengals receiver on a deep go route and ripping it away for an interception. A great individual effort.
- Trask and Payne Durham hooked up on back-to-back catches to get near midfield. Another needle threaded on the second catch in the middle of the field for 16 yards. A third down sack by two Bengals later killed the drive with the pocket collapsing from all directions.
- All in all, Trask was solid but had a couple of hiccups. He threaded the needle on a number of occasions but had a few bad throws with one pick and another one that could have been intercepted but hit the ground. Still, a good first showing.
- Irving and Tucker were both good with the ball in their hands, but the latter looked even better. Not great news for Chase Edmonds' prospects for making the 53-man roster.
- The running game got better when Barton was in the game. He was physical and did a nice job run blocking. His pancake block on his defender on Irving's touchdown run was downright nasty. Round 1 goes to the rookie in the battle for the starting center spot.
Related: Tampa Bay Buccaneers OLB Yaya Diaby reveals his prospects to play in Week One against the Washington Commanders
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