Tampa Bay came into their Week 8 matchup with the Bengals facing a must-win scenario. A win would drastically improve their playoff hopes, while a loss would all but sink them to the depths of the ocean. The Bucs just couldn’t put it together for a full four quarters as they came up just short in a tough loss. Jameis Winston was benched in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick and the savvy veteran was able to tie the game up despite facing an 18-point deficit coming off the bench. It was the usual start for the Bucs defense as they watched the Bengals gain 46 yards on their first three plays of the game. It got even worse when Jason Pierre-Paul committed a neutral zone infraction that made a 3rd-and-8 and 3rd-and-3 for the Bengals. But the Bucs were able to force a 4th-and-1 from their own 20 and Cincinnati decided to go for it. They used quick-tempo in order to catch Tampa Bay off guard, but it didn’t work as Joe Mixon was taken down at the line of scrimmage. Winston and the offense took the field soon afterward and things were looking promising. They were faced with their own fourth down at around the Bengals’ 45-yard line, but instead of attempting a field goal, they decided to go for it. A great scramble by Winston gave the Bucs their conversion and they were officially on the move. But a costly red zone interception in the end zone by Bengals’ safety Shawn Williams wiped out any chance at points. The Bucs’ defense was able to hold the Bengals to a three-and-out on the next drive, but a false start on Ali Marpet helped the Bengals return the favor on Tampa Bay’s next drive. A 32-yard catch by tight end Jordan Franks and a 28-yard catch by Tyler Boyd helped lead the Bengals to the first touchdown of the game. It took just four plays to punch it in and Randy Bullock hit the PAT to give the Bengals an early 7-0 lead. Bengals lead the Bucs thanks to this very very long rushing touchdown from Joe Mixon! pic.twitter.com/S14pkDxkyh — No Huddle NFL (@NoHuddle_NFL) October 28, 2018 Tampa Bay was on the move again. O.J. Howard finally got on the board with an 18-yard catch on first down and Evans later hauled in a 20-yarder to get the Bucs down to the Cincy 27. This time, it was an absolutely awful decision by Winston while under duress that led to his next interception. Facing down a free defender in Sam Hubbard, he tried to throw one to Evans, but it was picked off by Bengals linebacker Preston Brown and returned to the Cincinnati 42. The Bengals made the Bucs pay for the interception this time around. A 12-play, 58-yard drive that resulted in four third down conversions and one fourth down conversion ended on a great pass from Dalton to Boyd for a nine yard touchdown to push the lead to 14-0. A sack on Winston prematurely ended Tampa Bay’s next drive. Cincinnati wasted no time at all and drove right back down the field in four plays as Mixon ran in his second touchdown - he went in untouched this time - of the day to make it a 21-0 lead and a three-score game. The Bucs received some help to begin their next drive after Hubbard was called for a personal foul penalty against Winston. Then, on the next play, Winston launched a bomb to DeSean Jackson - who had reportedly requested a trade before the game - to get the Bucs on the scoreboard. DeSean Jackson, who wants to be traded by the #Buccaneers, catches a 60-yard touchdownpic.twitter.com/M8u9F6TRjZ — Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 28, 2018 But Chandler Catanzaro struck again and missed his fourth extra point of the season. The Bucs now trailed 21-6. Cincinnati was up against an early 3rd-and-5 while attempting to respond to the previous touchdown. It appeared Alex Erickson had crossed the first down marker, but Dirk Koetter decided to challenge the ruling. The call on the field stood and the Bengals were on the move yet again. Mixon then made multiple defenders look silly, rumbling 54 yards all the way down to the Tampa Bay 17. And A.J. Green did his usual thing on the next play, going up and snagging an incredible 18-yard touchdown catch over Carlton Davis for the Bengals’ fourth touchdown of the game. Bullock managed to do his best Catanzaro impression and missed the PAT attempt, but the Bengals still led, 27-6. A great blitz pickup on 3rd-and-9 allowed Winston to find Chris Godwin for his first reception of the day, along with the conversion. A 29-yard pass to Evans just a few plays later had Tampa Bay in the red zone. A touchdown here would nearly put the Bucs back in the game considering that they would soon receive the ball to start the second half. Great defense on Cincy’s part held the Bucs to a field goal and cut the lead to 27-9 at the half. Tampa Bay needed a touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter, there was no way around it. Cameron Brate came up with a big catch on 3rd-and-6 and Adam Humphries came up with another one on a 3rd-and-13. Winston then found Humphries again on the left sideline. Using spectacular effort, he was able to fight his way into the end zone, but Cincinnati challenged the call and it was reversed after it was apparent that Humphries’ knee was down before the ball crossed the goal line. Peyton Barber punched it in on the next play, however, making it look easy as he dove over a litany of Bengals’ defenders. Catanzaro made good on the extra point and the Bucs now trailed, 27-16. TOUCHDOWN! Peyton Barber for his 1st rushing TD of 2018! Catanzaro XP is good. CIN-27 TB-16 #GoBucs | #CINvsTB pic.twitter.com/Re44hxnC4O — AllThingsBucs (@AllThingsTBbucs) October 28, 2018 Tampa Bay’s defense came up with a huge three-and-out. Could the offense get this game back within reach? The answer was a disappointing, anti-climatic, and emphatic “no”. Winston completely overthrew a wide-open Brate on first down just to see reserve linebacker Jordan Evans come away with the third Winston pick of the game. At this point, it was clear Winston’s erratic play was holding back the offense. Mark Duffner’s defense came up with another big three-and-out to bail out Winston. He was all out of excuses now and had to do something to get the Bucs back in this game. Well, he did something, but it wasn’t what the Bucs needed. Facing a 3rd-and-10 from his own 10-yard line, Winston threw a pass behind Humphries that was picked off and returned for a touchdown by Jesse Bates. The pick-six pushed the Bengals lead to 34-16 and all hope seemed lost. Winston’s fourth interception led to an interesting development - Fitzpatrick came in right after the pick in place of the beleaguered starter. Fitzpatrick was able to move the offense pretty effectively. He may have had the Bucs inside of the Bengals’ 10-yard line if it weren’t for a holding call on Benenoch, but the Bucs settled for a 38-yard Catanzaro field goal to trim the lead, 34-19. The defense was lights out again, holding the Bengals to yet another three-and-out. At this point, the defense had allowed just 17 total yards in the second half. The offense had to step up NOW. Fitzpatrick made it happen, finding a wide-open Evans for a 72-yard touchdown. The quarterback controversy was back on. The lead was now cut to eight points as Tampa Bay trailed, 34-26. He's back! Ryan Fitzpatrick goes deep to Mike Evans for the 72-yard TOUCHDOWN #FitzMagic pic.twitter.com/b1LwG6Y1SM — FlurrySports (@FlurrySports) October 28, 2018 The defense came out with their fourth straight three-and-out thanks to a Pierre-Paul sack and gave the offense the ball back at the Bucs’ 15. A questionable short pass to Jackson on 3rd-and-5 left the Bucs in a punting situation. It was up to the defense to come up with another stop.<doc-sep>The Cincinnati Bengals got lucky Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Up by three scores at one point, the Bengals let the Buccaneers storm back into the game in the second half before gunning down the field with about a minute left so Randy Bullock could kick the game-winning field goal. Injuries didn’t help, but some issues stick out alongside the positives. Here are the takeaways to know. Injury bug keeps biting The Bengals just can’t stay healthy. A battered and bruised tight end depth chart lost C.J. Uzomah momentarily during the first half. The pass rush lost rotational monster Carl Lawson to an injury and he didn’t return. Perhaps worst of all, left guard Clint Boling went down with an injury and needed replaced by Christian Westerman. In the fourth quarter, word broke that Lawson will miss the rest of the season. These injuries aren’t easily overcome, lending credibility to the idea the front office might want to explore a small trade or two. Bengals might have something with Jordan Franks Tyler Eifert, Mason Schreck and Cethan Carter are on injured reserve. Tyler Kroft is on the shelf with an injury. C.J. Uzomah left the first quarter with an injury. Naturally, Franks stepped in and made an 32-yard catch on a scoring drive. On the big play, Franks lined up in the backfield and exploited a linebacker down the field. His ability to create mismatches might see him getting a bigger slice of the playing-time pie than anticipated. Decisive Mixon is best Mixon Early Sunday, Joe Mixon danced in the backfield on a fourth-down try and didn’t get it. Coaches likely got in his ear right after the drive. All Mixon did the rest of the first half was score two touchdowns on dominant-looking runs where he didn’t dance at all, simply hit the hole and got upfield. Mixon finished with 123 yards and tow touchdowns on 21 carries with some teachable, obvious film to review over the bye week. Coaches pull it together…in the first half Bengals coaches irresponsibly let the offense tank after Eifert went down with his injury, culminating in an embarrassing loss to Kansas City despite playing against a cupcake defense. The coaches got it right Sunday, going with some no-huddle looks and trying for it on fourth down a handful of times. These aggressive ways aren’t going to always work, but it sure beats punting it from the 40 in a game against the Steelers or kicking a field goal against the Chiefs while down four scores. Now? The hope has to be the Bengals keep attacking like this against good teams, not just a lowly Buccaneers squad. The attack also can’t disappear for huge stretches of time like it did in the second half. If so, they’re a tough team to beat.<doc-sep>A hobbled Cincinnati Bengals squad suffered more injuries Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, yet managed to come away with a 37-34 win. The Bengals had to hold on for dear life in the second half thanks to some offensive ineptitude, but the win gets them to 5-3 ahead of a much-needed bye week — not to mention Tuesday’s trade deadline. It was over when … … Joe Mixon posted his second rushing touchdown of the first half to make it 21-0. The Bengals defense has struggled, but Tampa Bay needing to go into pass-heavy mode played right into Cincinnati’s strong pass rush. …Or at least, it should have been. The Bengals allowed the Buccaneers to storm back before pulling off some more late-game magic. Those who changed the channel when they were up 21-0 avoided a spike in blood pressure, at least. General notes — Marvin Lewis showed aggressiveness on the first drive, going with some no-huddle and a fourth-down try. But it would have been nice to see that against the Chiefs, not Buccaneers. — Shawn Williams did a good job of reading Jameis Winston’s eyes on the first pick. — The Bengals can’t afford more injuries to tight end, so they have to hope C.J. Uzomah’s injury isn’t serious. — Jordan Franks created a mismatch out of the backfield on a huge play, setting up a touchdown. He’s one to watch moving forward. This is a fun game. But it's also one of those where expectations get raised waaaaay too much before a possible letdown. — Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) October 28, 2018 Something else to think about, you really have to hope beating the tar out of a bad team right now doesn't create complacency at the trade deadline. There are big holes to fill if they're going to beat contenders. — Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) October 28, 2018 — The Bengals are playing better, but Winston is throwing awful passes right at defenders. — Christian Westerman in for the injured Clint Boling. Good chance for Westerman to make his case for more playing time. — The Bengals didn’t exactly come out of the second half with a killer instinct while looking to put away the Buccaneers, a common problem in past years under Marvin Lewis. — Dre Kirkpatrick gets hurt, Bengals somehow lose the 6’5″ Mike Evans for a touchdown. Just a disastrous second half for a Bengals team that came out of the tunnel flat. — Complete offensive shutdown by the Bengals. Shades of 2017 with how the offense looked great while scripted during the first half, but downright miserable when tasked with improv out of the halftime tunnel. — Bengals do it again late in the game with about a minute left. The key now? Figuring out how to make that two-minute offense translate to the base offense so they don’t get put in that position again. Key Stat 4: Number of Jameis Winston interceptions. The supposed starting quarterback for Tampa Bay tossed four ugly picks, one of them going back for a score. It was almost impossible for the Bengals to lose given Winston’s generosity. Game Ball Tyler Boyd: Another game, another dominant showing for Boyd. He led all targets with 10, turning them into nine catches for 138 yards and a score. Up next: Bye week for the Bengals. It’s a much-needed one too considering the injury bug plaguing the roster. They need to get healthy fast — Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints are up next.<doc-sep>
The identity of the Bengals is still unknown, unless it’s simply just chaos. After scoring four touchdowns and intercepting Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston three times in the first half, the Bengals we’re leading 27-9 and sitting pretty in the locker room at the half. Suddenly, the offense went as cold as possible and the Buccaneers pulled the plug on Winston, allowing Ryan Fitzpatrick to erase a 34-16 lead in the final minute of the game. But unlike their last home game against the Steelers, the Bengals were the ones who drove down the field to win the game in the final seconds. Plenty of players performed at their best in this game, while a few underwhelmed. Here are our winners and losers from the Bengals’ 37-34 win over the Buccaneers. Winners Tyler Boyd: There’s something about the NFC South for Boyd. With his 138-yard performance against Tampa Bay, he now has three 100-yard games on the season, all against NFC South defenses. Boyd also scored the game’s second touchdown, and he hauled in a team-leading nine receptions on 10 targets. Joe Mixon: Boyd carried the passing game, but the first half belonged to Mixon. His 114 rushing yards from the first two quarters were the most by a Bengals running back in 10 years and is the most rushing yards in the first half from an NFL player this season. Per ESPN Stats & Info: Joe Mixon's 114 rushing yards are the most in the 1st half by any player this season and most by a Bengal in a 1st half since Cedric Benson in 2008. Mixon is the 2nd player w/ 100 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs in a half this season along with Alvin Kamara — Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) October 28, 2018 His two touchdowns also doubled his total on the season. This was the game the Bengals second-year tailback needed to get back on track, and despite not getting much of anything going in the second half, his first half production was impressive on its own. Mixon finished the game with 123 yards on 21 carries along with those two first half touchdowns. Sam Hubbard: When Carl Lawson went down with a torn ACL on the first drive of the game, Hubbard’s day got a lot more busy. Thankfully, he stepped up when he was needed. On the drive when Lawson went down, Hubbard got a crucial pressure on quarterback Jameis Winston that lead to the first of four interceptions for Winston. He later sacked Winston for the second sack of his career. Carlos Dunlap: Playing beside Hubbard, Dunlap had arguably his best game of the season, finishing with two sacks, three tackles for loss and two additional hits on Winston. This was great to see from Dunlap who was shut out against the Chiefs the week prior, and the Bengals defense will need Dunlap to keep producing down the road with Lawson out for the year. Jordan Evans: With no Vontaze Burfict or Nick Vigil, Evans was all over the field for the Bengals defense. He recorded 11 tackles, 1.5 sacks with two quarterback hits and his first career interception. He did allow the Buccaneers’ final touchdown that decreased the Bengals’ lead to two, but his coverage on the play was fine. Evans has been playing in reserve for the Bengals constant injuries at linebacker, and today was his most impressive performance. Jessie Bates III: Winston’s last pass attempt ended up in the arms of Bates, who then waltzed into the end zone for his third career interception and first career pick-six. Bates also got his hands on a few deep passes targeted towards DeSean Jackson, and made a couple impressive stops near the line of scrimmage. Bates, and the rest of the Bengals’ back seven took advantage of nearly every opportune moment against the struggling Winston; and Bates’ rookie season continues to amaze us. Losers Bill Lazor: What happened in the second half? Four consecutive three-and-outs from the offense probably can’t be pinned on just one person, but Lazor’s lack of adjustments in the third and fourth quarters nearly cost the Bengals the game. Andy Dalton also underwhelmed after facilitating the ball with precision in the first half, but Lazor’s play-calling was questionable at best when the Bengals could’ve put the nail in the coffin much earlier in the game. C.J. Uzomah: Part of the Bengals offensive shut down in the second half was their failure to get their starting tight end involved.