The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ drive for a potential game-winning score against the visiting Cleveland Browns was interrupted Sunday by a lightning delay that lasted two hours and 12 minutes.
When the game finally resumed at 6:10 p.m. — for a game that kicked off at 1 p.m. local time — the home team’s final efforts fell short and the Browns left town with a 23-19 win, dropping the Bucs to 0-2.
“We’ve dealt with adversity before,” Tampa Bay coach Todd 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.”
Deshaun Watson threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Blake Whiteheart that put Cleveland on top in the fourth quarter, 23-19. The Buccaneers took over with 3:44 left and had pristine field position at their own 49 thanks to Kameron Johnson’s 48-yard kickoff return.
Running back Bucky Irving picked up six yards on first down at the Cleveland 34 before the game was paused for weather.
Lightning was the initial reason for the delay, but it was accompanied by torrential rain that changed the field conditions dramatically.
When the game resumed, the Bucs had second down and moved the chains after two more Irving runs. But the Bucs weren’t able to punch it in, and Mayfield’s last-ditch toss in the direction of Emeka Egbuka fell incomplete.
Asked if the suspension of play had a chilling effect on the Bucs’ would-be game-winning drive, Bowles demurred.
“(The Browns) 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.”
–Field Level Media
