With starting quarterback Baker Mayfield not playing in the first preseason game, it was Kyle Trask who got the first crack of operating this new Liam Coen offense for the Bucs. Although typical preseason offenses are vanilla and only give a brief window of what it’ll look like for the regular season, it was still good to see Trask have an opportunity to show some progress in the new system as he attempts to establish his role as the backup quarterback.
Kyle Trask Lays Down Building Blocks For Bucs Offense
There were some good and bad moments for Kyle Trask as the Bucs defeated the Cincinnati Bengals on the road 17-14. He orchestrated an eight play, 77-yard touchdown drive on the team’s second possession that included passing plays of 24, 21 and 19 yards. Trask also had two turnover-worthy throws, including an interception towards the beginning of the second quarter, but luckily the Bucs defense was able to force the Bengals to punt.
Following the game Trask evaluated what it was like getting to play to start the 2024 season.
“It was good to get out there, get some live reps and get a good rhythm going,” Trask said. “Definitely some things to learn off, as always. There’s always going to be some things that aren’t necessarily clicking, especially the first game out there, but some great learning moments, and we’ll put that under our belt going forward. But I felt really good overall.”
Trask played just the first half, finishing with a stat line of completing 12-of-20 passes for 144 yards with one interception and being sacked once. He had a quarterback rating of 61.2.
Out of five drives, two of them ended up with the Bucs either scoring or being in scoring position, as Chase McLaughlin missed a 51-yard field goal attempt. Tampa Bay had also gotten just over midfield when Trask thew an interception, so that may have resulted in another scoring opportunity.
Benefits Of Teaming Up With Liam Coen
Kyle Trask’s touchdown drive was of course the highlight of his night, powered by those big passing plays. Running back Bucky Irving eventually scored the opening touchdown for the Bucs, rushing from five yards out. Trask made the right reads and hit receivers in stride, and that allowed the Bucs to move the chains on that scoring drive. Quick, rhythmic throws are staple of what Liam Coen’s offense is all about.
“It’s nice when you call the play and you want it against a certain coverage, and we got the coverage we wanted,” Trask said. “It’s nice when we can execute it. That’s kind of the whole philosophy of this offense, is we want to run the right plays versus the right defense, going to the line with multiple plays in our pocket. I’m just really proud of the guys for how they executed and communicated all night.”
Pertaining to working with Coen specifically, Trask complimented on how much of help he was during the evening.
“Liam’s been great in the headset,” Trask said. “Very clear communicator, and allows you to get in and out of the huddle, and gives you little pointers along the way. I thought he was awesome, I thought it was great.”
Backup QB Competition Is Not Over Yet
Head coach Todd Bowles will always say that everyone is competing for a job. That can be coachspeak at times as we know players like Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs, Lavonte David and Anotine Winfield Jr. don’t have to worry about their job security.
But Bowles is truthful when it comes to backups and other role players.
Kyle Trask is in the final year of his rookie deal after he was drafted by the Bucs in 2021. He had a legitimate opportunity to win the starting job last year but was beat out by Mayfield. Since Mayfield is the starter moving forward, Tampa Bay may move on from Trask following this season if the team feels like it can upgrade at the backup QB position.
Making things interesting this season for the yet-to-be-determined winner of the backup QB spot is that John Wolford is back for a second season in Tampa Bay and knows the offense probably better than anyone considering his time spent with the Rams. Wolford had a solid outing in Cincinnati as well, helping the Bucs to two scoring drives as he went 12-fo- 18 for 131 yards and was sacked twice.
So is it a true competition for the right to back up Baker Mayfield? Bowles made it sound like it was, while also pointing out that there’s still a long way to go before a winner is determined.
“It’s only one game,” Bowles said. “They’ve got two more games to see how this plays out. They both made some good plays, they’d both like to have some plays back, obviously. Kyle threw it soft a couple of times and he’s got to let it go. John made some good throws underneath when he was under pressure, but it’s still a competition. There’s still two games to go. It’s still close.”
