After several months of offseason, the NFL season starts in less than a month. That means the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are finally back in our lives. The team’s preseason begins Saturday night.
Tampa Bay is in the thick of it, as the preseason began Thursday with two separate games at New England and New York (plus the Hall of Fame game last weekend). Over the next three weeks, teams will play their three preseason games while also finalizing their 53-man rosters for the regular season.
The Buccaneers will open their preseason this year in Cincinnati against the Bengals. From key storylines to injury reports and how to watch the game, here’s everything you need to know about the Bucs’ season opener tonight.
Saturday’s meeting will mark the 15th time in NFL history that the Buccaneers and Bengals have played each other. Tampa Bay has a 9-6 overall record against Cincinnati. It will also be the second time in the last four seasons that the Buccaneers and Bengals have started the preseason together.
In the first week of the 2021 preseason, Cincinnati visited Raymond James Stadium and beat Tampa Bay 19-14 after the Bengals defense recorded four sacks. Despite using four different Bucs quarterbacks as quarterbacks, Tampa Bay managed a record seven offensive points in the first quarter, which was its worst performance of the preseason, thanks to a two-yard touchdown run by Ke’Shawn Vaughn.
The Bucs have been battling injuries since the first few weeks of training camp. Silas Dzansi and Sua Opeta are both out for the rest of the season, and Yaya Diaby is expected to miss the entire preseason.
Still, there are plenty of healthy Bucs players who now have a chance to prove themselves. Here’s a look at our first official injury report of the season:
Buccaneers injury report
Bengals injury report
More news and rumors about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
