Burrow uncorked a deep ball to Higgins early in the drive, finding a tight window in double coverage for what almost was a 42-yard touchdown. Higgins had the ball in his hands but it was batted away at the last second.
On third-and-5 the next play, Burrow bounced back to convert on a 23-yard pass to Andrei Iosivas that took the Bengals into the red zone, and the Buccaneers ended up extending the drive with a gifted pass interference on a third-down pass sailing out of bounds. Cincinnati made good work of the go-to-goal situation with the touchdown pass to Higgins two plays later.
Burrow’s day was done after that. He completed 5 of 7 passes for 51 yards and the touchdown, including going 3-for-4 on passes of 10 yards or more.
The Bengals’ defensive starters followed suit with a strong showing their only drive together, forcing a three-and-out. Only the banged-up defensive line had backups in, with Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai starting on the ends and Zach Carter and rookie Kyle Jenkins playing inside. Those four remained in the game for the next drive, along with cornerback DJ Turner, but everyone else exited.
Jake Browning took over on the offense’s second possession, but struggled to move the ball, as the punters had plenty of chances to compete.
Tampa Bay took advantage of a couple mistakes against backup defenders to gain a 10-7 lead in the third quarter, and it wasn’t until Logan Woodside replaced Browning in the fourth quarter that the Bengals were able to score again. Woodside connected with rookie Jermaine Burton on a 37-yard touchdown pass to go up 14-10 with 3:33 left, but a pass interference call on Cincinnati cornerback Lance Robinson extended the Bucs’ final drive, and they won the game on a three-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds left.
Dax Hill nearly had an interception on the defense’s second drive, but he wasn’t able to hold onto it. Four plays later, third-string running back Bucky Irving ran in a 5-yard touchdown to even the score at 7-7 with 1:35 left in the first quarter.
The Bucs’ next drives ended in an interception by Josh Newton and a missed field goal.
Browning threw an interception on a deep ball intended for Kwamie Lassiter after three straight three-and-outs. The half ended with the Bengals coming up empty on his one extended drive when Evan McPherson missed a 58-yard field goal attempt as time expired, and Browning failed to move the chains on his first two drives of the second half, finishing with 52 yards and a passer rating of 37.7 on 10-of-18 passing.
Woodside came on as the second-team offense gave way to a crop of third-stringers, and he led the Bengals down for a touchdown his second series. He got the Bengals as far as the Bucs’ 24-yard line on the final drive but it ended in a turnover on downs.
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