The Tampa Bay Buccaneers return to Raymond James Stadium in Week 2 to take on the Cleveland Browns in the home opener.
To get a better feel for the Bucs’ opponent I reached out to Ryan O’Leary, site expert for Dawg Pound Daily, FanSided’s dedicated Browns page.
I came away with plenty of insight into what challenges the Buccaneers will face Sunday, along with which matchups Tampa Bay could look to exploit. It’s another peek behind enemy lines offers Bucs fans a chance to view this Week 2 matchup through a Browns lens.
Cleveland Browns expert fears Tampa Bay Buccaneers' pass rush could torment Deshaun Watson
Q: The biggest storyline entering this game will be Baker Mayfield facing his former team. With Mayfield earning a contract extension that cements him as a franchise quarterback while the Browns have yet to find a long-term answer since moving on from Mayfield, what is the general sentiment in Cleveland? Do the Browns regret giving up on Mayfield, or was it time for a change of scenery, regardless of how things played out?
A: I think it’s easy to resent the Mayfield decision now, especially with the Deshaun Watson trade and contract so emphatically blowing up in the Browns’ faces (and continuing to torment fans to this day). But like everything in the NFL, context is required. When Cleveland traded Mayfield in 2022, he was clashing with then-head coach Kevin Stefanski. He was struggling with injuries. He was literally requesting a trade. The sentiment in Cleveland isn’t so much that the team botched the Mayfield situation. Something had to give there. It’s that the Browns so epically failed their fans on the solution to what had become a Mayfield problem, and have done nothing but shove that failure in their fans' faces since.
Q: After just one game, Deshaun Watson already seems to be on a short leash. The Browns’ QB struggles receive a ton of media attention and scrutiny. Is this all just “noise”, or could Watson be playing for his starting job in Week 2 against the Bucs?
A: Oh I definitely think that Mayfield and the Bucs could be the team that finally ends the Deshaun Watson era in Cleveland. The Browns held a lengthy quarterback competition between Watson and Shedeur Sanders that lasted until late August, and to say the competition was uninspiring would be an understatement. Browns coach Todd Monken said he went with Watson because of his experience, but Cleveland’s pair of tough road games in Florida to open the season, and Watson’s $46 million salary, almost certainly played a role. Watson looked bad in the preseason, and his Week 1 performance against Jacksonville was brutal. If he puts up another stinker in Tampa Bay, there’s no way the Browns can send Watson on the field for the Week 3 home opener against Carolina. That would be an ugly scene.
Q: The Buccaneers struggled to rush the passer in Week 1, with Joe Burrow being the least-pressured QB across the league. Deshaun Watson was sacked five times against the Jaguars. Is the Browns’ offensive line a concern, and should Bucs fans expect their revamped pass rush to have a get-right game against Cleveland?
A: This should be an excellent opportunity for Rueben Bain and company to get rolling, but not necessarily because of the Browns’ offensive line. They do have a pair of rookies starting in left tackle Spencer Fano and right guard Austin Barber, but the line held up well against Jacksonville. In Week 1, ESPN ranked Cleveland top-10 in both pass- and run-block win rate. The issue was Deshaun Watson, who PFF charged with all five sacks in the season opener. He hasn’t played a lot of football since the middle of the 2024 regular season, and it’s shown with his shaky pocket presence. Watson’s propensity to hold the ball and bail on plays early should play right into Todd Bowles’ hands.
Q: What was the biggest or most impactful move that the Browns made this offseason? This can be a signing, coach/player loss, draft pick, trade or coach/front office move.
A: It has to be trading Myles Garrett, right? The Browns got a haul in the bombshell trade with the Los Angeles Rams, including a two-time Pro Bowler in Jared Verse, but this is no longer the same devastating pass rush that Cleveland has hung its hat on for years. The Jaguars were able to chip and double-team Verse in Week 1, and the Browns’ pass rush was pretty much non-existent. Cleveland really misses Alex Wright, who tore his Achilles in training camp. As long as they have a plan to keep Verse from wrecking the game, the Bucs should be able to keep Mayfield clean in this one.
Q: Do the Browns have a clear weakness that the Buccaneers can exploit during this matchup?
A: Chris Godwin vs. Myles Harden or whoever the Browns try at the nickel spot. Harden had such a hard time with Jaguars’ slot specialist Parker Washington that Cleveland was forced to play mostly zone. Trevor Lawrence and company still picked the Browns apart. Godwin was able to get his feet wet in Week 1. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a monster game against the Browns. That goes for whoever Tampa Bay deploys out of the slot, by the way.
Q: Vice versa, is there a weakness the Buccaneers have that you expect the Browns to take advantage of?
A: There’s only one way I can see the Browns sticking around in this game, and that’s if Mayfield and the Bucs decide they want to lead the NFL in giveaways this year. No other team turned the football over four times in Week 1. If Mayfield can’t protect the football, especially in a game against his former team when the juices will be flowing, the Browns have enough talent on both sides of the ball to make this game interesting.
Q: Is there a roster strength that Cleveland has that is currently being underrated by rival fanbases or the media that could give the Buccaneers trouble?
A: Cleveland’s starting secondary ranks among the best in football. In terms of sticky cover corners, there aren’t a lot of duos better than Denzel Ward and Tyson Campbell. The Browns’ safety group is also elite with Grant Delpit and Ronnie Hickman, and they have an exciting rookie knocking on the door in Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. The Browns have a new defensive coordinator in Mike Rutenberg and it didn’t look pretty against the Jaguars in Week 1, but while the nickel spot is a clear weakness, the team’s strength is the secondary as a whole. If the Bucs aren’t on their game, Cleveland has the pieces to make it extremely difficult to throw the football.
Add us as a preferred source on Google