The Cincinnati Bengals’ matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be one of the team’s most high-profile games of all of 2015, regular season included. Tampa Bay’s pass defense was also diced up – Vikings quarterbacks went 27 for 33 and threw two touchdown passes.
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The Buccaneers have Winston playing in his second game and he comes after scoring a TD in the first preseason game for the Bucs.
“That’s just the mentality we have here, ” Winston said of his fast start.
In his debut preseason outing, however, Winston threw just three completions out of 10 attempts, plus an interception, in the first half, but he finished on an up note with a 76-yard touchdown drive. You’ll need a cable log-in and password, or the log-in and password of someone you know, to access the stream. He had 53 yards on 14 carries.
It’s certainly tempting to imagine Winston’s potential in his rookie year with Mike Evans and Austin Seferian-Jenkins at his disposal.
It wasn’t pretty. Cincinnati took an uppercut on the chin during Tampa Bay’s 25-11 win over the hapless Bengals. No defensive end had more than one tackle against the Vikings – Melton had the team’s only sack – so there’s an urgency to see someone make plays as part of the outside pass rush.
Clearly favoring the ankle, Winston was called for intentional grounding after he avoided a sack on a third-and-22 play from the Bengals 29 by throwing the ball away just a few yards downfield.
The first was an in interception by cornerback Alterrun Verner, who ran his pick back 24 yards for a touchdown. The Bucs’ first-team offense was lightyears better than it was in the preseason opener, but still could only manage seven points on five possessions.
The biggest play of the drive for Martin came on a insane 30-yard run where the Bengals looked to have Martin surrounded. He even completed a pass to himself. That’s bad news for Cincinnati backup A.J. McCarron, who will likely get the bulk of the action at quarterback. If Winston turns out to be the franchise quarterback that the Bucs have been searching so long for, maybe the Muscle Hamster will finally be able to live up to his potential.
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Most assume the Bucs want Cherilus to end up taking the starting RT spot during Dotson’s abscence, so this will be his first chance to make a claim for the job.
