Joe Burrow and Bengals Starters Score in Front of Large Crowd at Preseason Opener

Just what the doctor ordered. Or at least Bengals head coach Zac Taylor.

Well, not exactly. Tampa Bay won Saturday night’s wild preseason opener when the Bengals’ fourth-and 12 stand in the last minute was negated by a pass interference call that turned a 14-10 win into a 17-14 loss.

But on a beautiful 73-degree night in front of a large crowd on their new field at Paycor Stadium, quarterback Joe Burrow opened the year with a crisp 12-play, 73-yard touchdown drive to match the weather.

Rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton seemingly bookended the night with 3:33 left in the game when he ran a stop-and-go before catching a 37-yard touchdown pass on a pearl from quarterback Logan Woodside down the left sideline to give the Bengals a 14-10 lead.

But Tampa Bay hit four straight passes before the stand. Facing fourth-and-12, Bengals rookie cornerback Lance Robinson was called for pass interference. On the next snap, with 57 seconds left, the Bengals had running back Ramon Jefferson stuffed at the 4, but let him get out for the winning run.

Woodside hooked up again with Burton for another bomb, this time for 38 yards with 41 seconds left. But they went for the win and couldn’t get the first down on Woodside’s scramble on fourth down.

Way back in the first ten minutes, the Bengals’ first defense made it a complete night for the Ones by forcing a three-out in their only action of the night.

Burrow, making his first appearance since suffering a season-ending throwing wrist injury Nov. 16 in Baltimore, was his lethal self in hitting five of seven passes for 51 yards. His last one was a 10-yard flip for a touchdown to wide receiver Tee Higgins and the Ones were able to break out the sweats on the sidelines for the rest of the night, their work done in the first 6:26.

Higgins was the center of the drive with two catches for 19 yards and nearly hauled in a 58-yard touchdown when Burrow went bootleg and threw a nice ball into double coverage. Higgins had it, but it was poked out at the last minute. He came back to draw a pass interference penalty on safety Josh Hayes on third-and-17 inside the Tampa Bay 10.

And then Higgins victimized Hayes again when he caught a pass at the 5 and pivoted leaving Hayes in the dust.

Burrow threw three arrows in his first start ever in a preseason opener. He started the night with a nine-yard quick hitter to Higgins up the seam, a 23-yarder in stride to wide receiver Andrei Iosivas running away from safety Tykee Smith on third-and-five, and a high nine-yarder drilled over the middle hauled in by wide receiver Trenton Irwin.

The Bengals used a variety of formations on the drive and got good blocking from tight end/fullback Drew Sample on a couple of Chase Brown runs. Brown carried five times for 10 yards, but did have runs of five and six inside.

Brown took the first return of the new NFL kickoff rule at his one and went up the middle to the 27.

The offense under backup quarterback Jake Browning didn’t generate another first down until he found tight end Tanner Hudson on third-and-four with 35 seconds left in the first half. On fourth-and-seven with 13 seconds left, Hudson again slithered for seven more yards to set up Evan McPherson’s 58-yard field goal try that went wide right and ended the half tied at seven.

The Bengals survived three straight three-and-outs and Browning’s interception on a long ball to wide Kwamie Lassiter II. The defense bent giving up 195 yards, but didn’t break despite giving up five yards per rush.

Cincinnati stayed in it with flash plays by some young defensive players in the second half to keep it close.

The Bucs had a tough time blocking tackle Travis Bell, beating them for a tackle, a sack, and a third-and-one disruption. On another third-and-one, rookie linebacker Maema Njongmeta came down hill to stuff it. Then on fourth-and-two from the Bengals 3, linebacker Devin Harper knocked down quarterback John Wolford’s pass as the game moved into the fourth quarter.

Then with six minutes left in the game, the defense got the ball back, thanks to rookie safety P.J. Jules’ alert play on Wolford’s bootleg rollout.

The Bengals had a tough sequence after Tampa took a 10-7 lead to open the second half and it summed up the night for the offensive reserves.

Rookie safety Michael Dowell was called for holding on the kickoff, the first of three holding calls on left tackle Jackson Carman wiped out Browning’s 15-yard third-down conversion pass to Lassiter, and an ineligible downfield call on right tackle Devin Cochran was declined.

The Bengals didn’t score in Browning’s seven drives as he finished 10 of 18 passing for 52 yards.