The Buccaneers’ biggest strengths turned into major weaknesses against the Bengals and it cost them a win in Week 1
Both sides of the trenches are supposed to be foundational position groups for the Buccaneers, but they woefully underperformed during Sunday’s loss to the Bengals.
Heading into the 2026 season, just about everyone had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive and defensive lines/EDGE positions as the team’s biggest strengths.
Well, both sides of the ball were anything but against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 and they played huge roles in the loss. As a matter of fact, one can easily argue the trenches were the weakest aspects of the Buccaneers’ performance.
The offensive line was a sieve in pass protection, but showed slight promise in the run game
You don’t need to be a football expert to understand the potential that comes with the Buccaneers offensive line. It should be a top-5 unit, even top-3, when healthy and that was far from the case on Sunday against the Bengals.
Pass protection is where things were really rough. Per Next Gen Stats, the Bengals blitzed Baker Mayfield on 11.1% of dropbacks, which was tied for the second-lowest rate through Sunday’s games. Despite the low blitz rate, Mayfield was pressured on 38.9% of dropbacks and was sacked four times, which registered as 10th and fourth-worst, respectively.
“I gotta be better. I gotta stay inside-out. I can’t, you know, let him have a free run to the quarterback at the top of the pocket,” Tristan Wirfs told reporters after the game. “So, you know, Bake needs to step into his throws, like to to make something happen, you know, in a situation like that. So I gotta stay locked on, and I got stay, you know, fixed on my guy.”
It wasn’t just Wirfs who struggled, though. Luke Goedeke failed to win his 1-on-1 matchup against Boye Mafe on the first fumble and Mafe’s pressure was the catalyst behind the play. Cody Mauch and Ben Bredeson allowed three pressures each on 39 pass snaps and Bredeson also allowed a sack, per Pro Football Focus.
Things were a lot more positive when it came to running the ball. The rushing attack wasn’t lethal, by any means, but the Buccaneers did displace some guys at the line of scrimmage and created room for Bucky Irving to operate in, for the most part.
It wasn’t as positive for Kenny Gainwell, though, which brings the overall performance down a notch due to inconsistency. The game flow played more of a role in the rushing attack’s potency, more than anything, but that doesn’t change the fact the run blocking was more of a positive than the pass blocking.
Overall, it was a disappointing day for one of the most talented groups in the NFL and it really needs to get corrected fast. Fortunately, Week 2 against the Browns provides that potential inflection point.
The defensive line/EDGE position groups were just as bad
When it comes to the pass rush, the first pressure on Joe Burrow didn’t occur until about midway through the second quarter. The Buccaneers only sacked Burrow once throughout the entire game and it didn’t come until on a 3rd and 7 at the 10:55 mark in the third quarter.
The four-man pass rush was lackluster, as best, as well the group’s overall performance. Calijah Kancey led the Buccaneers with four total pressures and Al-Quadin Muhammad was next with two.
After them, no defender recorded more than one pressure throughout the entire game. That includes Rueben Bain Jr., who recorded zero pressures on 24 pass rush snaps, Vita Vea, A’Shawn Robinson, Yaya Diaby, and everyone else.
That simply can’t happen with this group, especially when considering how highly touted they were coming into the season. The pass rush has to be better, there’s no other way to put it.
Like the offensive line, the Buccaneers’ front seven was better in the rushing department than the pass. 25 of the Bengals’ 106 rushing yards came on two plays, with one being Burrow’s check into a draw play that gained 12 yards. Bengals running backs gained a total of 76 yards on 21 carries – good for 3.62 yards a pop, which is obviously a win.
It was encouraging to see it stay consistent, even when the Bengals led by double-digits, because the game script in those instances obviously lean more toward the run. It wasn’t perfect and there’s still plenty of room to improve, but at least the Bucs could hang their hat on the run defense.
Football cliches are often overused and overrated, but one that holds a ton of weight is “it all starts up front”. That is universally true and if you can’t block or get after the quarterback/stop the run, you’re going to lose games.
That’s what happened on Sunday and it’s what will continue to happen if the Buccaneers can’t get on track. Fortunately, they have the pieces in place to improve. They just have to make it happen.
