Tampa Bay @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 11, 2017 ) Tampa Bay 12, Cincinnati 23

The Cincinnati Bengals had a chance to prove themselves as AFC contenders in a road game against a top opponent last week and fell flat on their faces. The Bengals will try to pick themselves up and jump back into the AFC North race when they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

The Bengals were in first place in the AFC North before a 28-21 home loss to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 6 and made the situation much worse by following that setback with a 45-10 loss at Kansas City in Week 7. "It’s a bad look for the whole team to see this happen," linebacker Preston Brown told reporters after the latest setback. "It’s such a big score difference. You never want to go out there and get blown out on a Sunday night, (especially) when it’s been something we’ve been waiting to show the whole league what we can do. And now, to put up a goose egg like that, it’s not a good look. But we’ve got to learn from it and find ways to get better." The Buccaneers remain a work in progress defensively but took some steps forward in a 26-23 overtime triumph over Cleveland last week that snapped a three-game slide. Tampa Bay, which is last in the NFL in scoring defense at an average of 32.7 points, squandered a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter but managed to keep the Browns off the scoreboard in the extra period.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Bengals -4. O/U: 54.5

ABOUT THE BUCCANEERS (3-3): The struggling Tampa Bay defense suffered a pair of big losses in last week's win as middle linebackers Kwon Alexander and Jack Cichy went down with ACL tears that will end their respective seasons. "Unfortunate," Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter told reporters. "Kwon was playing so well and he's the heart and soul of our defense. Just very unfortunate. ... Kwon goes hard every single play and he wears his emotion on his sleeve. He's a terrific competitor. He brings energy to our defense." The offense will need to do a better job of protecting the football and keeping the defense off the field with Alexander out and starting quarterback Jameis Winston is up to six interceptions and four fumbles in three games.

ABOUT THE BENGALS (4-3): Cincinnati scored 34 or more points in three of its first four games but failed to hit 30 points in any of the last three, leaving the offense searching for answers. “(What) really good teams in this league do is they improve, and we were very clear with talking about that with the players," offensive coordinator Bill Lazor told reporters. "And I think they're 100 percent on board. They agree. You're supposed to improve as the year goes on. You're supposed to see issues that you deal with in training camp and preseason, early in the season and then hope not to have those same mistakes come up." Quarterback Andy Dalton averaged 299.3 passing yards in the first four games but watched that number dip to 208.3 over the last three contests.

EXTRA POINTS

1. The Buccaneers signed former Bengals LB Kevin Minter on Tuesday.

2. Cincinnati placed Mason Schreck (knee) on injured reserve and signed fellow TE Jordan Franks off the practice squad.

3. Tampa Bay DT Gerald McCoy (calf) sat out last week and is questionable for Sunday.

PREDICTION: Bengals 34, Buccaneers 31