The Browns left Tampa with a win that looked nothing like the usual script for a team trying to find itself in September. Cleveland beat the Buccaneers 23-19, climbed to 1-1, and handed Baker Mayfield and Tampa Bay an 0-2 start after a game that swung hard in the second half.
Deshaun Watson was at the center of it. After a first half that was still messy and uneven, he settled in and took control, throwing two touchdowns and finishing with a 121.9 passer rating. That was enough to quiet the early noise about Cleveland possibly turning to Shedeur Sanders for the Week 3 home opener against the Carolina Panthers.
The Browns also got the better of Mayfield in a game billed as his revenge spot, even before weather turned the finish into something strange. His chance at a potential game-winning drive was delayed for more than two hours, and when play finally resumed the stadium was mostly empty, with rain and whipping winds hanging over the scene.
Cleveland’s turnaround started with a defense that looked far sharper than it did a week earlier. Mayfield threw a costly first-half interception, and that turnover battle was always one of the Browns’ best paths to stealing a road win.
By the midpoint of the second quarter, though, Cleveland had already stacked up six penalties for 50 yards, pushing its season total to 17 accepted penalties. From there, the Browns cleaned things up enough to let the rest of the game tilt their way.
The passing game found a rhythm when Harold Fannin Jr. became the focal point. He caught two passes on Cleveland’s go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, including a key third-and-short conversion. The Browns still want rookie wide receiver KC Concepcion involved, but Fannin is the one creating real problems for defenses right now.
Denzel Boston delivered the kind of play that changes a game fast. His 55-yard touchdown was one of Cleveland’s two biggest plays of the season, and it came after he broke three tackles on the way to the end zone.
ESPN research said it was the Browns’ longest touchdown by a rookie wide receiver since Donovan Peoples-Jones in 2020. Boston is only 22, but he already looks like a player Cleveland can build around.
Not everything clicked, though. The run game stayed stuck.
Quinshon Judkins had 12 carries for 21 scoreless yards, and Cleveland largely abandoned the ground attack in the second half. That’s a problem for an offense built around Todd Monken’s ability to use the run to open up the rest of the playbook.
The defense did enough to win, but the tackling still left something to be desired. Tampa Bay’s quick-game attack, especially the horizontal passing stuff, kept turning short throws into longer gains than they should have been. Quincy Williams and Sam Williams were among the most obvious misses, but the issue went beyond a couple of names.
There were a few individual bright spots up front. Mason Graham recorded a sack for the second straight game, and through two weeks he’s been Cleveland’s best pass rusher while working only on the interior.
On the other side, Jared Verse’s slow start continued with just one pressure, according to Pro Football Focus’ live tracking. He’s dealing with extra attention and tough early-season conditions in the Florida heat, but the early returns still haven’t matched the expectations that came with the Myles Garrett trade.
Monken’s game-management choices also stood out. Cleveland has now won the coin toss in back-to-back weeks, and both times Monken chose to receive.
The Browns got an interception and a three-and-out on those opening possessions. Still, the bigger issue came late in the second quarter, when Monken went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 34 and got stuffed.
Tampa Bay turned that into a field goal and then a touchdown to open the third quarter, a 10-point swing that could have buried Cleveland.
Instead, the Browns punched back. And on a day when the defense set the tone, the offense did just enough to turn a strange, weather-soaked road game into Cleveland’s first win of the Todd Monken era.
In Other News...
Browns Rare Road Win Is Suddenly Hanging On A Bizarre Delay
The Browns had a rare road win within reach in Tampa Bay before weather turned Sundays Week 2 game into a waiting game. Cleveland was leading late when the delay hit shortly before 4 p.m., sending players and fans off the field as lightning moved through the area and stalled the finish of a game the Browns badly wanted to close out.
What made the pause so unusual was how long it stretched, pushing past 6 p.m. and moving beyond the NFL record for the longest single weather delay. With lightning still active around Tampa, the league cannot restart until the threat clears, and even then both teams must go through a 10-minute warm-up before play can resume, leaving Clevelands result hanging in a very strange kind of limbo. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Secondary Has A New Name Fans May Need To Watch
The Browns came out of Week 1 with plenty to clean up after a rough loss to the Jaguars, and the secondary was part of the broader defensive struggle. One of the quieter developments from that opener was rookie defensive back Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who was on the field for 25 percent of the defensive snaps while also handling 52 percent of the special teams work, a sign that Cleveland is already finding ways to get him involved.
McNeil-Warren brings a versatile skill set and a college rsum that suggests there is more here than just a depth piece, but the Browns are not rushing the process. For now, his usage hints at a player the coaching staff wants to evaluate in real game action while he works toward a more stable defensive role, and that makes him a name worth following as the season starts to settle in. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Put Deshaun Watson Under Pressure At Worst Possible Time
The Browns are already at a familiar quarterback crossroads just as the season gets moving, with Ian Rapoport reporting the team plans to reevaluate the starting job after its game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Todd Monken opened the year by naming Deshaun Watson the starter, but the conversation around the position has shifted quickly because of how Watson looked in preseason and again in the opener.
What makes the timing so tricky is that Cleveland is weighing the issue before its first home game, when any change would come with immediate scrutiny. Backup Shedeur Sanders is part of the discussion as the Browns examine their options, and the next step could say plenty about how long the team is willing to stick with its original plan. [Read more 🡒]