“He Was Down”
September 18th, 2026
There wasn’t much for Rueben Bain to smile about in Cincinnati.
Lost in the glorious debut of Josiah Trotter and how fellow rookie Ted Hurst demonstrated he’s a clutch player was arguably the most hyped Bucs rookie since America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston, was pretty much invisible.
That’s because his play was invisible. If you didn’t see outside linebacker Rueben Bain on the field, it’s likely because he made only one tackle.
That may have been the quietest debut of a Bucs first-round draft pick that Joe has ever seen, given how folks were talking prior to Week 1. Many fans believed Bain was going to single-handedly force KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles to respect the sack — and Bain’s ornery attitude would transform the Bucs defense overnight.
None of that happened. In fact, Bowles mentioned Bain may have taken a step back.
Who kidnapped the Miami Mauler in Cincinnati?
If it gives any Bucs fan comfort, outside linebackers coach Larry Foote said Thursday that Bain was really down in the dumps that he was a non-factor in Week 1. In fact, Foote said he made a point of trying to give Bain a pep talk after the game because he was so depressed over his one-tackle debut.
“Just picking him up,” Foote said. “He was down. [There are] a lot of expectations for him, and he was down and out – the whole room was, up front.
“We wanted to hit the quarterback, and we didn’t do it, but [there are] going to be games like that. You’ve only got a couple opportunities, and you’ve got to make the most of it.”
Joe doesn’t know who was more frustrated, Bain or Bucs fans.
Social media was alive after the loss to Cincinnati with frustration that nothing seems to work in the Bucs’ never-ending quest to find someone, anyone, who can come off the edge and put the quarterback on his backside.
One fan came at Joe outraged that Bowles had Bain drop into coverage on a critical third down in the fourth quarter. Joe replied that Bain was so ineffective on Sunday, Bowles may have felt since Bain was being owned by the Bengals’ offensive line, he may as well try to use Bain as a safety.
In summary, Bain can only go up from here. Why not this Sunday against the hapless Browns before the home crowd?
September 18th, 2026 at 12:06 am
Bain completely sucked. Baldy did a whole podcast on how badly Bain sucked.
That said …
Kancey, Yaya, and Vea were just as horrible.
Vea can point to great years and no off season.
Kancey and Yaya can’t point to anything. They were non-factors. They’ve been non-factors. They’ve had years to figure it out.
Bain is fine for now. We can say he’s a bust in a couple of years.
The other two BUST!!!
September 18th, 2026 at 12:24 am
OMG, the over reaction.
Burrow was throwing the ball in under 2.5 seconds. The Bengals clearly game planned to get the ball out quickly. When QBs do that, you’re not going to get a ton of pressures. Additionally, the defense overall did a great job considering the awful position the offense kept putting them in. Well, the defense minus one bum, that being Analzone, who was absolutely terrible. Heck, if you remove him from the field, the defense might have even been able to overcome Baker.
Also, there’s the entire deal with Bain literally being in the first game of his career after only playing a few snaps in the preason.
People need to chill out.
There’s only two players who deserved to be based after Sunday, and both were named above. As for Bain, we’ll see, but I’m not even 1% concerned. Even if Bain did very little his rookie year, that’s pretty normal for edge rushers, and doesn’t really reflect their long term value.
September 18th, 2026 at 12:36 am
Why not use him on stunts etc
Falls on coaches too
Tomlin 27 !!!!
Surprised corners still did that amazing with no help
September 18th, 2026 at 1:28 am
Rod. I totally agree with you. I noticed that Burrow was getting the ball out quickly.
September 18th, 2026 at 1:42 am
I also agree with Rod, Baker’s 3 fumbles with an assist from Bucky put the Bucs in a deep hole which they could not climb out of. Yet, the Bucs had opprtunities to get back in the game only to have the Benglas get those crucial plays over the middle time after time because they had identified Anzalone as a liability and exposed him in a big way making Gesecki the Cincy player of the week.
Look for the Browns to try and use Fannen in similar fashion against Anzalone…I do wonder if Bowles has any schemes which can negate the TE exposing a weak ILB? My guess, based on how that was also a problem last year (See Kyle Pitts having a record game in the 3rd and 28 Thursday night debacle),is that the answer in no.
As for Baker, he had better put together a better performance than last week or the critics will just become louder and louder. Three fumbles in a game, geez, CJ Stroud thinks that was horrendous and he coughed it up twice helping the Texans lose to the Bills.
September 18th, 2026 at 2:08 am
First game.. Stand the fugg by.
September 18th, 2026 at 2:17 am
He will bounce back. I like that he cares so much he will be alright. Baker can have fun, and put a Michigan jersey on during press conference though complete opposite. Reminded me about what Brady said about Mayfumble; “I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings… This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I would’ve went to Disneyland with my kids.” I dont see Mayfumble being that serious. 35 fumbles as Buc, breaking your body then it’s like we have to respect he play hurt. IDGAF, grow up and play smarter football.
September 18th, 2026 at 2:26 am
One thing about the game no one seems to be mentioning. Doesn’t matter if its NFL, UFC, NBA, MLB etc: GOOD COACHES MAKE ADJUSTMENTS! When Gesecki was lighting us up in that game what adjustments were made to thwart, stop, or at least slow the guy down? Answer? NONE.
As far as Bain goes he was a complete non factor after all the hype and pressure put on him from this website and other places. And YES when you hype someone up there is pressure for that person to live up to that hype. Like I said before I just hope the hype and pressure doesn’t destroy the young man. I really hope he can be a great player and have a good career. But from what I saw on Sunday it is not looking good as the performance certainly did not equal the hype.
September 18th, 2026 at 2:31 am
Hard to knock the kid, no one else besides Trotter played well either. Recall Muhammed was out in coverage on a 3 & 10 that wsa naturally converted as well. More troubling to me was the 70yd march in 1:43 the D allowed for the FG going into half (not even forcing a 3rd down), and then allowing the Bengals to go 59yds and hold the ball the final 3:19 to finish the game.
September 18th, 2026 at 2:40 am
It’s all about Bowles and his utter incompetence. Fire him yesterday.
September 18th, 2026 at 2:46 am
Guys please watch the tape if last bucs game on defense it looks really really bad…
September 18th, 2026 at 2:49 am
Honestly I liked being but he was ineffective he should be benched best Ayers should be playing
September 18th, 2026 at 4:24 am
Burrow was throwing the ball so quickly he was able to find his third or fourth option. A slow TE hanging out 15 yards down the middle of the field. Come on man! I don’t remember a single screen pass by the Bengals maybe a couple of quick passes to Chase Brown out of the backfield. Burrow could have set up a recliner in the pocket with a beer in his left hand.
September 18th, 2026 at 4:42 am
First, Bain was up against up against a 2024 first round draft pick, Amarius Mims – 6’8″, 350#.
Mims is a beast who had the 6th highest pass blocking grade in 2025.
Mims’ total pressure rate allowed in 2025 was 5.3%. That was with Burrows averaging 2.69 seconds to throw for 9 games, and that was with Joe Flacco averaging 2.60 seconds to throw for 8 games.
Against the Bucs, Burrows averaged a faster 2.51 seconds to throw; the NFL average is about 2.8 seconds to throw. The average NFL pressure comes at about 2.9 seconds.
Now, if the Bengals WRs were dominating the Bucs DBs and coming wide open right off of the line of scrimmage, maybe Burrows would throw that quickly. But, that wasn’t what was happening Sunday. The Bucs kept the Bengals two star WRs contained.
So, it seems that the Bengals were sufficiently concerned about the Bucs pass rush that they planned, practiced and executed a quick release passing game plan designed to insure that the Bucs pass rush would not have an opportunity to be a factor in the game. The consequence of that was that the Bucs sat on the Bengals two star WRs and did not allow them to have an opportunity to be a factor in the game.
Only 5% of all NFL sacks come in the first 2.5 seconds after the snap, but the Bengals did not feel safe holding the ball longer than that. When the other team is getting rid of the ball in 2.51 seconds, the DL is doing its pass rush job even if it is only by intimidation.
September 18th, 2026 at 5:03 am
And I believe rb and yaya both dropped a total of 5 times, just shut up about it joetrollsfan
September 18th, 2026 at 5:31 am
toopanca … ‘Against the Bucs, Burrows averaged a faster 2.51 seconds to throw; the NFL average is about 2.8 seconds to throw. The average NFL pressure comes at about 2.9 seconds.’
That should answer a lot of questions toopanca (well, except the emotional ones). Burrow’s 2.51 sec average is also the primary reason though why our OLBs couldn’t get there (OLine blocking still counts for something though I’d think). And that’s why I’m convinced the INTERIOR DLine has to create that instantaneous push (which weren’t really doing), to get the QB noticing what’s happening in his face.
Shortest distance beween 2 points is still a straight line.
September 18th, 2026 at 5:50 am
Let Larry Foote take over the defense with play calling duties. Let him put out a resume for next year, when you all will be looking for work.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:12 am
Burrow has a season-ending injury EVERY year, looks like they’re trying to prevent the China doll from getting hit so much
September 18th, 2026 at 6:14 am
Toopanca: good points, thx.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:29 am
How many sacks did Akheem Mesidor get?
September 18th, 2026 at 6:31 am
Bain completely sucked. Baldy did a whole podcast on how badly Bain sucked.
That said …
Kancey, Yaya, and Vea were just as horrible.
Vea can point to great years and no off season.
Kancey and Yaya can’t point to anything. They were non-factors. They’ve been non-factors. They’ve had years to figure it out.
Bain is fine for now. We can say he’s a bust in a couple of years.
The other two BUST!!!
—————————————————–
It’s hard to sack any quarterback when they get rid of the ball in 2.3 seconds. Burrow recorded the third quickest time to throw and was targeting his backs and tightened to get rid of the ball quickly. Mims is a good tackle too, and Cincinnati improved their line just as we did with ours . Complete nonsense to write off these players kancey when healthy can wreck things. Yayay has a high pressure rate just now sacks yet. That will change with the help added to the line. The buccs defense is going to wreck people this season; it’s going to be fun to watch. I don’t take much stock in one game in the road when players haven’t had .uch live game action since last season.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:48 am
Actually a perfect first game for him, now he knows what the NFL is all about.
Better than making a splash or two and thinking he’s got the NFL in his bag.
He learned a tremendous amount by NOT succeeding.
Unless he’s a complete bust last Sunday will be a great lesson learned.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:49 am
TRADE BAIN AND 3 FIRST ROUND PICKS FOR A PROVEN PASS RUSHER LIKE MILES GARRETT!!!!!!……..NOW!!!! Wait, …… what, …….. he’s on what list?
September 18th, 2026 at 7:20 am
Glass half full he had a better debut than Myles Garrett. Not only was dude invisible he also got injured. If the tackle he was going against was 6’8 yea short arms will hurt you
September 18th, 2026 at 7:51 am
Bain was a 4-3 defensive end in college and Bowels is trying to make him into a 3-4 OLB. So he has that adjustment to make in addition to adjusting to the speed of the game.
People want to dismiss the short arm thing, but history is consistent in showing short armed pass rushers have a low ceiling. How realistic is it to believe we now have the first exception to this rule?
Don’t expect much from Bain this season. As to future seasons? We all know about Bowels’ utterly failed history of developing pass rushers. But maybe this will his last season which will open the door for Bain to reach his ceiling, such that it may be. In a 4-3 defense perhaps.
September 18th, 2026 at 7:51 am
A fan was outraged that an OLB dropped into coverage.
That is because some fans are idiots
September 18th, 2026 at 8:02 am
Todd, He’s a hand in the dirt DE !!
Not worried about Bain but Todd
isn’t helping the situation with him
September 18th, 2026 at 8:05 am
Patience
September 18th, 2026 at 8:10 am
Thank you, infomeplease.
September 18th, 2026 at 8:48 am
It looked like he kept running straight into a pillow.
September 18th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Well wasn’t it to be expected? According to the club Bakerbois the line sucked so badly a against the Bangles so going against our sucky line every day didn’t prepare him properly for NFL Ol. All that hype poured out over the summer just to duck and dodge when the real bullets started flying. It’s ok he’ll get better under the tutelage of the Bowles school of defense
September 18th, 2026 at 9:34 am
There’s nothing wrong with being disappointed in his first game production as a fan. Clearly, he knew it too. It’s what he does next.
I’m still very excited to see what he can do. One game is not a big enough sample size. The Browns are a woeful franchise, maybe even overtaking the Bucs in those dreary years. Maybe he can “reintroduce himself”?!
” My name is……”
September 18th, 2026 at 11:12 am
Let others play and see what they can do. Its early.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:13 am
Don’t worry about Bain. He’ll be fantastic next year when we have a new coach and a 4-3 scheme and he’s not being forced to play LB and worry about coverages for TEs and RBs.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:18 am
@Eckwood
You are exactly right. Bain is a hand-in-the-dirt DE. But he’s too small and light to play DE in a 3-4 scheme. That’s why TB has him at LB. Just like Hassan Reddick last year. So instead of playing “See ball, get ball” like he did in college, he has to manage RB and TE coverages, flat zone responsibilities and dropping into coverage 25-35% of his snaps.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:26 am
INDEPEDENT CONTRACTORS-business ran by Bowles!!!!
September 18th, 2026 at 11:35 am
You people need to lay off Bain and Anzalone. It’s not our players, it’s Todd Bowles defensive scheme. Most of the league knows how to attack it. It’s going to continue to get exposed. Baker needs to work harder at his craft, foot work, throwing motions for accuracy and timing with his receivers. He could be much better if he put more work in on those fundamentals. Todd Bowles is not the right head coach for this team.
September 18th, 2026 at 1:11 pm
The Joe(s) were at fault here, constantly declaring this the second coming……making folks expect a rookie who was going to perform like Superman!
September 18th, 2026 at 1:38 pm
Not sure why Kancey is getting negative comments from y’all???
He was the best d-lineman in the game…
He flashed multiple times forcing Burrow to throw even quicker…
People need to understand..
When Burrow is healthy, he’s definitely top 5 QB in the league…
His mental game is easily top 3.
He can diagnose defensive schemes & coverages very quickly..
Once GESICKI started catching multiple balls in the Bucs defensive zones, he found a weakness and started feeding him. Pretty smart move if you asked me 🤷🏻♂️
September 18th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
If Burrow ever wants to leave Bengals, Bucs need to absolutely JUMP on this guy. I don’t think he’s all that happy playing for them based on his comments in the offseason.
September 18th, 2026 at 3:05 pm
There is no pass rush because opposing QBs know exactly where to go with the football against Todd Bowles obsolete defensive scheme defending grass instead of players
September 18th, 2026 at 5:27 pm
He wore himself out over practicing, dragging those takling machines across the field. Now his shoulder hurts and he got no juice. He needs to respect his body more so they are fresh for the game. More isn’t always better. He will learn, hopefully. Go Bucs.
September 18th, 2026 at 5:39 pm
There’s no substitute for game reps. He will learn and hopefully do better as the season progresses.
September 18th, 2026 at 6:09 pm
Right On
Munch!!
September 18th, 2026 at 7:52 pm
It’s one game and the 1st game at that. Take the turnovers away and we have a very diff story.
September 18th, 2026 at 8:39 pm
If Bain has too many games like last Sunday he’s gonna be a pine rider much sooner than later. At minimum attempt to show aggression.