With week one feeling like a forgotten tragedy of the past, the Buccaneers welcomed the Cleveland Browns into Raymond James Stadium for their second game of the season. For Baker Mayfield, the fans in Tampa Bay, and all those watching at home, hopefully the team’s home opener would bring a new life to their young season— Something week one worked hard to zap out of the fanbase.
First Quarter:
Sunday’s week two contest kicked off with the Browns’ offense and Baker Mayfield’s replacement Deshaun Watson. Cleveland
finished their opening drive by taking the ball out of Watson’s hands with an odd third-and-long handoff and subsequent punt.
Baker Mayfield versus the Cleveland Browns: Part one— advantage Mayfield. The Buccaneers 2026 debut drive at home would lead to a Chase McLaughlin field goal. 3-0, Bucs. In a tit for tat response, Deshaun Watson walked Cleveland down the field on their second drive for a game-evening field goal. 3-3, All.
Tampa’s second field goal attempted and second field goal made gave them another three-point lead, however, after another stop Baker Mayfield had another uh-oh moment with his fourth turnover in a game and a quarter. Mayfield’s first interception of the year was an ugly one and much like his turnovers a week ago would lead to points.
Second Quarter:
At the start of quarter number two, the Browns had possession and an opportunity to strike. Fortunately, for the Bucs, the Browns also aren’t the most reliably executing offense— A redzone trip that only netted three. 6-6, Tied up.
With the ebb and flow of the game remaining consistent— sloppy offense, passable defense— Tampa took back over with 2:33 left in the half, after a shockingly aggressive fourth down attempt by Todd Monken. Monken, backed up inside his own 30, decided to leave his fledgling offense on the field for a fourth and one conversion attempt. Using creativity that knows no bounds, the former Tampa Bay coach ran the ball straight up the middle. The run resulted in no gain, no first down, and more Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense football. Tampa took two minutes and 21 seconds of the 2:33 they were given and gained about 20 yards to add a painfully short field goal. 9-6, Tampa Bay.
Third Quarter:
Sunday’s second half started with the Bucs’ offense and it was Tampa’s best drive of the season. The Bucs hit play action passes, used their run game, and got the ball to their playmakers. In a drive that featured Bucky Irving (with Baker Mayfield blocking), started with a play action crosser to Chris Godwin, and was capped off by Emeka Egbuka’s first touchdown of the 2026 season, the Buccaneers showed life and looked the offense that fans would have expected to see before entering the season and watching last week’s fumbling and bumbling— Tampa’s drive even featured a patented Baker Mayfield third down scramble before they secured the game’s first touchdown. 16-6, Bucs.
A mixed exchange of kicks would pull the Browns within seven before Deshaun Watson had one of his best plays as a Cleveland Brown. Dropping back and finding Denzel Boston for a touchdown. Boston’s catch-and-run score featured what was unofficially Alex Anzalone 78th missed tackle of the season and officially his second in the final three plays of Cleveland’s scoring drive. 16-16, shocking.
Fourth Quarter:
The fourth quarter’s first big play for Tampa Bay was Chris Godwin on a crossing route for a second and 10 first down— Their second came the very next play. In the cherry on top of multi-deep ball sequence that spanned across two separate drives Baker Mayfield finally hit a deep shot. A diving Tez Johnson who was gliding through Cleveland’s secondary snared Mayfield’s pass and put the Buccaneers in position for Chase McLaughlin to add three more points and return the Bucs to the lead. 19-16, Buccaneers.
To say Tampa Bay’s defense has been a disappointment through the first two weeks of the season would be a hard understatement. The 2026 Bucs have looked far too much like the 2025 Bucs for anyone’s liking and that trend would continue as the Cleveland Browns, amidst a quarterback controversy and as much turmoil and as organization in the NFL took Todd Bowles to the matt again. Six more points on Bowles’ unit, one more blown fourth quarter, more Bucs beating Bucs.
Trailing 23-19, the Buccaneers had an opportunity to pull out some of the magic that their 2025 campaign began with just a year ago. Baker Mayfield was in early MVP conversations mainly for his last-minute heroics. Moving down the field, Mayfield and the Bucs encountered a obstacle that they could not overcome— Mother nature. Hit by a storm, Raymond James Stadium was evacuated and placed into a weather delay.
Almost two full hours after the initiation of the delay the Bucs and Browns took the field and prepared to resume battle. Drenched and dreary, the Buccaneers scooted Bucky Irving across the line to gain for a first down conversion. A quick slant to Ted Hurst III and the Bucs were moving. In what has become standard 2026 Bucs fashion, the vibes would sourly quickly. Hurst III would bobble and ultimately drop a perfect throw that could have resulted in the game-winning touchdown shortly after. From that point it would only take one Baker Mayfield scramble and one more incomplete pass to put the Bucs down in the hole they have dug for themselves, 0-2.
