How The Buccaneers Can Beat The Browns

On paper, the Buccaneers should have an easy victory. But, this could’ve been said about the Chargers and the Cardinals and look how that turned out. You unfortunately can’t assume anything.. They do have some pieces the Bucs need to worry about on offense and defense.

The Buccaneers biggest worry on defense is stopping Harold Fannin. They could barely stop a low-end TE in Mike Gesicki, and Harold Fannin is far from that. Getting over 700 yards and 7 TDs with the Browns QB situation is akin to Gronks 1300 yard, 17 TD seasons. I have to figure that Anzalone will play better than he did last Sunday if only because it would be hard to get worse. But I think it’s safe to assume the Bucs will struggle against him. I have him starting in fantasy over George Kittle for what it’s worth.

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I do have to issue a mea culpa here, I said that the Bengals o-line in last week’s article wouldn’t be good. And then I watched a God damn Greek God shut down Rueben Bain for a whole game. So that was my bad for doubting the awesome might of Amarius Mims Bengals’ fans. But with that said, I don’t think the Browns’ o-line stacks up to what the Bengals have. And even if it does, they’re injured to hell and back. I’m writing this before players have been ruled out, so I’m not sure who will play for either team, but even if all the starters end up seeing the field, they’re all banged-up.

And Deshaun Watson will not help them at all. Like Baker, he caused a lot of his sacks to become sacks by stepping back like 11 yards from the line of scrimmage. Clearly Watson is not as good as he was in 2020, that much is obvious, but he unfortunately has three solid targets to make him look better in Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion, and Fannin. I’m more hopeful the pass rush will get things going and the d-line won’t look asleep at the wheel again. It would be nice if Walker maybe gets some snaps on defense after how much he was hyped up during the pre-season.

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For the Bucs’ offense, just don’t turn the ball over. I’m not sure how much more advice I could give than that. They lost a winnable game in Cincy because Baker gave the ball away like candy on Halloween. I thought Zac Robinson showcased a lot of good stuff. If I had to offer my 2 cents, it seems like they need more Ted Hurst. He only got the ball on the Bucs’ last drive, and looked great, so hopefully that earns him more playing time. He also should lean on the run game.

One of the guys that does scare me on the Browns defense is Jared Verse. One way to mitigate a good pass rush is running the ball well, and also using the other guy they signed in Kenneth Gainwell. The Bucs’ o-line also needs to buck up. Most of the time Baker created his own mistakes leading to sacks, pressures, and/or fumbles. But the o-line play wasn’t great, especially along the tackles. Cleveland’s d-line isn’t as formidable as the Bengals’, but they still have guys like Mason Graham and the aforementioned Jared Verse.

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In terms of talent on the roster, the Browns probably have the least amount of any of the teams the Bucs will face this year. Their QB situation is bad to say the least, and it really drags down the rest of their offense. If the Buccaneers score often and early like Jacksonville did, that forces the Browns to play catch-up, and I don’t think they have the roster to do so. However, if the Browns force mistakes like the Bengals did, they could make it an ugly game. The best way to win this one is for the offense to force the Browns to have Deshaun Watson push the ball and keep up.