By Buccaneers Let Another Winnable Game Slip Away in 23–19 Loss to Browns
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
TAMPA — The rain came down in buckets at Raymond James Stadium. Still, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had already spent most of Sunday pouring a winnable football game down the drain.
The Buccaneers lost to the worst team in football, the Cleveland Browns, 23-19 to start the season 0-2.
Going back to last season, the Buccaneers have won just two of their last twelve games, and three of their last 14.
The bizarre two-hour lightning delay didn’t cause the Buccaneers’ loss to the Browns.
Nor did it stem from one failed fourth-down play after the teams finally returned to the field. And it was certainly not the result of a bad break or two.
The Buccaneers lost because they settled for field goals, failed to protect a 10-point second-half lead, and couldn’t make the winning play when the opportunity was right in front of them.
That is how a team that controlled much of its home opener fell to 0–2.
For the second straight week, the Bucs walked away knowing they had done enough good things to win, and more than enough bad things to lose.
That is the most frustrating part. Cleveland didn’t dominate this game. The Buccaneers failed to finish this game.
Too Many Field Goals, Not Enough Touchdowns
Chase McLaughlin was one of the best Buccaneers on the field. He made all four of his field-goal attempts, including a 59-yarder, and accounted for 13 of Tampa Bay’s 19 points.
The Buccaneers moved the ball into scoring range time after time, but could not finish drives.
The Bucs managed only one touchdown, a five-yard pass from Baker Mayfield to Emeka Egbuka in the third quarter.
Mayfield escaped pressure, stepped forward, and found Egbuka for a diving catch that gave the Buccaneers a 16–6 lead.
At that moment, the Bucs appeared to be taking control. Instead, it became their only trip to the end zone on a disappointing day.
Field goals keep a team ahead. Touchdowns put an opponent away. The Buccaneers never delivered the knockout punch, and Cleveland remained close enough to steal the game late.
Baker Mayfield Never Found a Rhythm
Mayfield completed 21 of 34 passes for 182 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He made a few vintage Baker-type plays, escaping pressure, fighting for extra yardage, and then finding Tez Johnson for a 49-yard gain in the fourth quarter. But those types of plays were too few on this Sunday Afternoon.
The Browns pressured Mayfield throughout the afternoon and sacked him three times.
Tampa Bay’s passing game lacked consistency, and too many drives required Mayfield to rescue the offense after protection problems or negative plays.
His interception was another mistake after he committed three turnovers in the season-opening loss at Cincinnati.
Mayfield said afterward that the ball was sweaty on the play, but he did not use that as an excuse.
Whatever the reason, the Bucs cannot keep giving possessions away while trying to find their offensive identity.
Mayfield was at his best when the Bucs finally pushed the ball downfield. His 49-yard completion to Johnson put the Buccaneers in position to extend their fourth-quarter lead.
Once again, the drive stalled inside the Cleveland 15, and McLaughlin’s fourth field goal would make it 19–16. That missed opportunity proved costly.
The Defense Could Not Close the Door
For most of three quarters, Tampa Bay’s defense did what it was supposed to do. Cleveland failed to reach the end zone on its first eight possessions, and the Browns had almost no running game.
Deshaun Watson finished as Cleveland’s leading rusher with only 22 yards.
Watson connected with rookie Denzel Boston for a 55-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, wiping out the Bucs 16–6 advantage. It was the kind of explosive play a defense protecting a double-digit lead cannot allow.
The most painful drive came after the Buccaneers moved back in front 19–16.
Cleveland answered with a 12-play, 68-yard march.
On third-and-1 from the Buccaneers’ 31-yard line, Watson rescued what appeared to be a broken play by finding Harold Fannin Jr. for six yards. Three plays later, Blake Whiteheart slipped into the flat uncovered, caught Watson’s pass and went 17 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Bucs knew Cleveland had to score a touchdown. They knew Watson had become the entire Browns offense, and they still could not get off the field.
Watson finished with 238 passing yards and two touchdowns. But even more damaging than the final numbers was his efficiency after halftime.
Cleveland went from an offense that could not finish a drive to one that produced touchdowns on two of its final four possessions.
Todd Bowles said the Bucs need to focus on tackling, and the tape will show more than one problem. The Buccaneers allowed an explosive touchdown, failed to win a critical third down, and lost Whiteheart in coverage on the decisive score.
Those are execution failures, and they are especially alarming for a defense that entered the season promising to be faster and more aggressive.
The Weather Delay Was Not the Reason
The strangest moment came with two minutes remaining. The Buccaneers trailed 23–19 and had reached the Cleveland 28 when lightning and torrential rain stopped the game for two hours and 12 minutes.
The delay killed the afternoon’s rhythm, changed the field conditions, and forced both teams to reset mentally and physically. But Bowles refused to hide behind it.
“They were doing the same thing. That’s not an excuse,” Bowles said. “We were ready to play. We came out, we warmed up, we had 10, they had 10. We’ve got to go out and make plays.”
After play resumed, Bucky Irving helped move the chains and gave the Buccaneers another chance in the red zone. But the drive went backward, and Mayfield’s fourth-and-11 throw toward Egbuka in the end zone fell incomplete.
The result was painfully familiar: The Bucs had the ball, had a chance to win, and failed to finish.
Bucky Irving Was a Bright Spot
Irving gave the offense its most dependable production, rushing for 89 yards on 17 carries—an average of 5.2 yards per attempt.
The Bucs should not lose sight of that. When the offense stayed balanced and gave Irving opportunities, it looked functional.
When the Buccaneers fell into obvious passing situations, Cleveland’s pressure took over.
McLaughlin and Kam Johnson also provided important special-teams moments. Johnson had a 48-yard kickoff return after Cleveland took the lead, giving the offense the ball near midfield and an excellent chance to answer.
The Bucs could take advantage and cash it in.
A 0–2 Start That Feels Worse Than It Looks
Bowles did not pretend the start was acceptable.
“We’ve dealt with adversity before,” Bowles said. “This is an adverse situation again, first time at the beginning of the season, but we’re 0–2 right now.”
“We’ve got to pull ourselves up by our boots, and we’ve got to win. We’re going to come out, we’re going to correct our mistakes, and we’ve got to get going.”
Plenty of season remains. A 0–2 record does not eliminate anyone in September. But the concern isn’t just the record; it’s how the Buccaneers got there.
They turned the ball over four times in Cincinnati. Against Cleveland, they wasted scoring opportunities and surrendered a 10-point lead.
Two games, two different paths to the same result.
This roster is too talented to keep losing games they should win.
The Bucs have playmakers. They have veterans. They have a quarterback the organization just paid like a franchise cornerstone.
What they do not have, at least through two weeks, is a complete performance.
The Buccaneers did not need the sun to come back out Sunday.
They needed their offense to finish drives, their defense to finish the Browns, and their stars to finish the game.
None of that happened.
Everyone is to blame, from GM Jason Licht to head coach Todd Bowles to the players in the locker room.
Now the Buccaneers are 0–2, and the margin for error is already beginning to disappear.
