![\"Tampa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/cleveland-browns-v-tampa-bay-buccaneers-tampa-florida-september-20-tykee-e1789934816844.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith. <\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> and Cleveland Browns<\/a> were on a freight train toward a thrilling finish on Sunday when things came to a sudden halt.<\/p>\n With just 2 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter and the Buccaneers with the ball and trailing 23-19, officials put the game in a lightning delay after strikes in the Tampa area.<\/p>\n After a 2.5-hour delay, play resumed at 6:02 p.m. ET. and the Browns held on for the 23-19 win.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a full hour into lightning delay in Tampa \u2014 Bucs and Browns with two minutes left, Bucs at the Cleveland 28 but trailing 23-19,\u201d Fox Sports NFL reporter Greg Auman wrote<\/a> on his official X account at 5:02 p.m. ET. \u201cStadium PA just announced they will have another update at 5:30, so still a while before they\u2019re playing again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBrowns and Buccaneers are currently in a lighting delay in Tampa Bay,\u201d Browns reporter Austin Malutic wrote<\/a> on his official X account. \u201cBrowns lead 23-19 with 2 min to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n What is NFL\u2019s Policy on Weather Delays?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a quick look at what the NFL\u2019s official policy is on weather delays. The Buccaneers-Browns delay came 1 day after 2 big-time college football games saw massive, hours-long weather delays \u2014 North Carolina vs. Clemson in Clemson, South Carolina, and Alabama-Florida State in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.<\/p>\n NFL<\/a> games can be delayed when lightning strikes occur within 10 miles of a stadium. That triggers a mandatory 30-minute wait that only begins after the last lightning strike. Players, personnel, and staff are required to leave the field during delays, and fans are encouraged to seek shelter.<\/p>\n If the game can\u2019t continue, then it\u2019s on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to either reschedule the game or terminate it early \u2014 something the NFL would be loathe to do with such a close game.<\/p>\n Nightmare Revenge Game for Mayfield<\/p>\n Mayfield could turn around a terrible day against his former team \u2014 he was drafted No. 1 overall by the Browns in the 2018 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n With the ball back on the game on the line, Mayfield was 20-of-31 for 176 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception and was getting thoroughly outplayed by his replacement as Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson<\/a> was 23-of-30 for 238 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, and the entire NFC East Division. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tykee Smith. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns were on a freight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-405811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}