Bucs’ season-opening triumph comes at a cost of 3 cornerbacks

TAMPA — Already depleted on the defensive line entering Sunday’s season opener, the Bucs found themselves with a dearth of cornerbacks less than three minutes into the second half.

Starter Zyon McCollum exited after sustaining a concussion on an illegal block from Commanders receiver Olamide Zaccheaus late in the first quarter. By the early moments of the second half, Josh Hayes — among the four pure corners suited up Sunday — had joined McCollum on the sideline with an ankle injury.

Then with 12:52 remaining in the third quarter, veteran Bryce Hall was carted off with an unsightly ankle injury sustained on a Brian Robinson run play.

That left veterans Jamel Dean and offseason signee Tavierre Thomas — a safety-corner hybrid — as the only corners available. Former undrafted free agent Christian Izien — who didn’t log one rep at outside corner during training camp — was inserted immediately after Hall went down.

He finished with two tackles, one pass defended and a forced fumble as the Bucs held rookie quarterback Jaylen Daniels to 184 passing yards and limited Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin — a 1,000-yard receiver in 2023 — to two catches on four targets.

“I haven’t played outside corner probably since high school,” said Izien, who made the 53-man roster as a rookie out of 2023 training camp.

“I just studied for free safety, strong safety, nickel, everything else. It wasn’t on my bucket list to play outside corner today, but just knowing the defense, learning the defense and having an opportunity to just get out there and play with older players to help me, it was big for me and helped me play confident.”

Coach Todd Bowles said his staff will assess the severity of the injuries before making personnel decisions at cornerback, but conveyed confidence in Izien going forward. Tyrek Funderburk, an undrafted rookie from Appalachian State who was deemed inactive Sunday, also will have to be ready, Bowles said.

“(Izien) has not lined up at corner one day in training camp, but he plays nickel, so nickel and corner have the same jobs on certain things,” Bowles added. “(It’s) just hearing it from a different angle, and the safeties helped out a lot. The (secondary) coaches did a good job getting him ready, and he did a good job.”

Run-game resurgence?

Last in the NFL in rushing offense each of the last two years, the Bucs offered no indication of an upgrade 30 minutes into Sunday’s game.

But in the final moments, things went from pedestrian to potent.

Held to 31 yards on 15 carries in the first half, the Bucs finished with 112 rushing yards on 30 carries, thanks primarily to some effective alternating of 5-foot-10, 195-pound rookie Bucky Irving and third-year counterpart Rachaad White on the team’s final scoring drive.

After dashing off right guard for 8 yards on the drive’s opening play, Irving (nine carries, 62 yards) darted off right tackle for 31 yards, prompting chants of “Buck-ee” from the Raymond James Stadium crowd. He also had an 11-yard run on the possession before White amassed 9 yards on two carries on first and goal from the 10, setting up Baker Mayfield’s 1-yard scoring pass to Mike Evans in the end zone’s right corner.

White had only 31 yards on 15 attempts, but had six catches for 75 yards.

“I thought we got it going,” Bowles said. “We had some good 3-, 4- and 5-yard runs early. We need to run it late and we ran it late, which was great. The 1-2 punch with Rachaad and Bucky is kind of how we planned it to be. One gets tired and the other one goes and picks each other up, so that was positive.”

For openers, a franchise record

On a searing early-September afternoon at Raymond James Stadium, humidity converged with history.

For the fourth consecutive season, the Bucs’ opened with more of a splash than a splat.

Sunday’s 37-20 triumph against the Commanders was Tampa Bay’s fourth consecutive season-opening win, setting a franchise record. The Bucs previously had won three openers in a row only three times (including 1979-1981 and 2016-2018) and remain below .500 (23-26) in season debuts.

The last four openers: 31-29 vs. the Cowboys at home (Sept. 9, 2021), 19-3 at Dallas (Sept. 11, 2022), 20-17 at Minnesota (Sept. 10, 2023) and Sunday’s triumph, which featured their third-highest scoring output in a season opener.

“We had to kick some field goals (Sunday),” Bowles said. “We can score some points, we want to be better than that. It was great for the first game, just to get out and get our feet wet, but we have some things to work on there and we’ve got to be better than that.”

By the numbers

0 Errant snaps by rookie center Graham Barton in his NFL debut

5 Career games in which Mayfield has thrown four or more touchdown passes. Mayfield’s four-TD effort Sunday was his second as a Buc.

6 First-half catches (on as many targets) for Chris Godwin, tied for his fifth-most in the first half of a game in his career. Godwin finished with a game-high eight catches for 83 yards and a touchdown.

97 Career touchdowns for Evans (who had two scoring catches Sunday), moving him past Eric Dickerson for 26th-most in NFL history

3 Points needed by Evans to surpass Martin Gramatica (592) for the franchise’s all-time record

Audible

“(Benjamin) St.-Juste is a physical corner, tall corner; a couple inches shorter than me, and he played physical, he played the ball good. (Mayfield) just threw a better ball, and I had strong hands at the end.” — Evans on his 17-yard scoring catch in the second quarter, when he appeared smothered by St.-Juste

• • •

Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.

Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Instagram, X and Facebook.