Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans may not want to, but if you slow the clip of Baker Mayfield's goal-line fumble, it's easy to see through his shaded face shield the moment he realized he screwed up. That was just one of many mistakes the Buccaneers made on Sunday.
It's not like the Cincinatti Bengals are the Miami Dolphins. They have a top quarterback when he can stay healthy, a decent offensive line, and maybe the best wide receiver corps in the entire league.
All of that taken into consideration, would you be shocked if I told you that some of the statistics from this loss are extremely hard to explain? Even saying them out loud doesn't make any sense.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers' week one loss is the fault of the image in their mirror
Josiah Trotter made NFL history
The rookie linebacker showed up on Sunday, and made NFL history in the process. The second-round pick had 10 tackles, a sack, and a pick-six. His pick-six of Joe Burrow was fantastic and gave life to the Buccaneers on the scoreboard. Still, the Bengals beat the Bucs 33-27.
Riley Dixon never took the field
This can't be stressed enough. The Bengals had nine offensive possessions against the Bengals. One of them was a one-play end-of-half series, so that doesn't really count. In the other 8 possessions, the Bengals punter, Riley Dixon, didn't take the field. That's correct; the Buccaneers didn't punt a single time on Sunday. Still, the Bengals beat the Bucs 33-27.
Bengals offense scored just two touchdowns
While Burrow threw for a middling 254 yards and one touchdown, the Bengals' rushing attack was stifled most of the game. Starting tailback Chase Brown ran 16 times for 56 yards and accounted for the only other offensive touchdown. Still, the Bengals beat the Bucs 33-27.
Buccaneers stifled Bengals top WR unit
Tee Higgins was held to three catches for 59 yards, but the more impressive WR, Ja'Marr Chase, was held to just two catches for 12 yards. Talk about doing your job in the secondary. The biggest question heading into Sunday was: how would the corners hold up against the two top receivers? They did quite well. Still, the Bengals beat the Bucs 33-27.
Baker Mayfield threw only 5 incomplete passes
Think about this for a minute. Mayfield threw the ball 28 times against the Bengals, didn't have a single interception, added 30 yards and a score running with the ball, and only had five incompletions. He completed over 80% of his pass attempts. Still, the Bengals beat the Bucs 33-27.
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