The box from Paycor

The first Sooner box of the 2026 season is a 33–27 Bengals win at Paycor, and it is a study in what the line does not say. Baker Mayfield completed 23 of 28 throws for 216 yards. He was not intercepted. He scored on a 9-yard scramble with 3:19 left. Tampa Bay never punted. And the Buccaneers lost, because the football kept coming out of his hands.

Three of Tampa’s four lost fumbles belonged to Mayfield — two on sacks, one on a scramble toward the goal line, the most he has put on the ground in nine NFL seasons. Linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. took the first one 27 yards the other way. Cincinnati scored 24 points off the turnovers. Mayfield had signed a $165 million extension earlier in the week. It is the first opener he has lost in four years as a Buccaneer.

On the other sideline, two more Norman names. Samaje Perine carried five times for 20 yards and caught three balls for 30. He is still the change-of-pace back who protects the pocket in Cincinnati. Orlando Brown Jr. was the left tackle Mayfield had to throw over — the same mountain who used to set the edge in crimson. The trench won. The Heisman did not.

Joe Burrow went 25-of-35 for 254 and a two-yard touchdown to Mike Gesicki. Evan McPherson hit four field goals, including 55 and 58. The only Bengals giveaway was a pick-six by Bucs rookie Josiah Trotter that made it a one-score game. Mayfield’s late scramble made it 33–27. Tee Higgins’s 18-yard catch on second-and-10 let Cincinnati kneel.

The sheet at the top of this page is the column. 23-of-28. 5-for-20 and 3-for-30. A left tackle in stripes. Three fumbles that will follow Mayfield into Cleveland next week. In Cincinnati, three Sooners were on the field. Only two of them kept the football.