The Buccaneers came out of Week 2 with a 23-19 loss to the Browns, and the early damage is already piling up. Tampa Bay is 0-2, the schedule isn’t getting any kinder, and this one had the feel of a game that can drag a season in the wrong direction fast.
There were a few bright spots buried in the mess, but far too many of the same issues showed up again: turnovers, missed chances, shaky protection, and a defense that didn’t get enough help from its veterans.
Baker Mayfield was at the center of the disappointment. The former Browns quarterback had the revenge-game setup everyone was talking about, but it never came close to the storybook finish he wanted.
He turned the ball over for the second straight week and missed throws downfield throughout the day. The offensive line didn’t exactly make life easy on him, but Mayfield has been the face of the team and he has opened the year in rough shape.
The best thing going on offense was Bucky Irving. For the second week in a row, he led the way, piling up 89 yards on 17 carries and again topping five yards per rush. Tampa Bay has leaned on him in both games, and he’s been one of the few steady positives in an otherwise ugly start.
The line in front of Mayfield was another problem that kept showing up. Coming into the season, Tampa Bay’s offensive front was talked up as one of the best units on the roster, maybe even one of the better lines in the league.
Two weeks in, it has looked like a weak spot instead. Mayfield was sacked three times after taking four sacks in the opener, and Browns defenders were living in the backfield often enough that the pass protection could have looked even worse if Mayfield hadn’t escaped some of the pressure.
The defense had its own headache in Alex Anzalone. He missed tackles, then compounded things with a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.
For a team captain in his 10th NFL season, that kind of night is a serious problem. He’s been dragging the defense down, and the Bucs don’t have many alternatives to lean on right now.
Josiah Trotter, meanwhile, kept standing out. He finished with 13 tackles and led the team for the second straight week. The rookie has been Tampa Bay’s most consistent defender so far, and he’s making a strong case that he should be the one wearing the green dot and the “C,” not Anzalone.
Special teams also gave the Bucs something to hang onto. Chase McLaughlin was perfect again, drilling all four of his field goal tries, including a 59-yarder. Through two games, he’s been Tampa Bay’s best player, plain and simple.
Tykee Smith chipped in a solid outing as well, finishing with five tackles and three tackles for loss. The Bucs would still like more impact from him in coverage, but he was active around the line of scrimmage and made plays where he could.
The biggest wasted opportunity came in the red zone. Tampa Bay got there four times and scored just one touchdown.
That kind of inefficiency is how you lose games like this, especially when the rest of your offense isn’t carrying its weight. The Bucs keep settling for field goals instead of finishing drives, and it’s costing them.
There was one more encouraging note on defense: David Walker finally got home for a sack. He had been one of the most talked-about players of Tampa Bay’s offseason and barely saw the field in the opener, but he made the most of his chances against Cleveland. He still looks like a player with real pass-rush potential, and the Bucs need it badly with the rest of that pass rush still mostly quiet.
In Other News...
Baker Mayfield And Todd Bowles Are Feeling Heat In Tampa Bay
Two losses to open the season have put the Buccaneers in an early hole, and the frustration was easy to hear after the latest setback against the Browns. Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield both pointed to the same problems in their postgame comments, with penalties, missed tackles and turnovers all dragging down a team that expected to look sharper out of the gate.
Minnesota is next, and the schedule is not offering much relief as Tampa Bay tries to steady itself before the situation gets any heavier. For Bowles, the challenge is cleaning up the operation quickly. For Mayfield, it is about finding answers under the kind of pressure that tends to grow fast when September starts slipping away. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Already Have A Costly Problem They Must Fix Fast
The home opener brought more frustration than relief, as the Buccaneers fell 23-19 to the Browns and slipped to 0-2 on the season. Tampa Bay had enough good moments to stay in the game, with Bucky Irving providing a spark on the ground and the run defense again holding up well, but the offense never found enough rhythm to overcome the mistakes piling up around it.
What stood out most was how the second-half pass defense unraveled, leaving the Bucs vulnerable when they needed to tighten things up. Baker Mayfields interception, along with penalties and missed tackles, made an already close game even harder to manage, and it left Tampa Bay with an early-season problem it cannot afford to ignore for long. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Already Have 3 Early Problems Fans Can't Ignore
The Buccaneers second loss of the season brought a few early warning signs into focus, and the biggest one sits on offense. Baker Mayfield and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson have not yet found the kind of rhythm Tampa Bay needs through the air, and the passing game looked short on answers again against Cleveland. For a team that has built much of its identity on staying competitive in tight games, that lack of consistency is hard to ignore this early in the year.
There were other problem spots, too, including a pass-rushing effort from Rueben Bain that didnt match expectations and a tackling day from linebacker Alex Anzalone that may put his role under more scrutiny. Chase McLaughlin was one of the few bright spots, handling his chances cleanly and drilling a 59-yard field goal that went down as the third-longest in team history, but even that kind of reliability only softens the bigger concern around how many issues the Buccaneers are already sorting through. [Read more 🡒]