The Tampa Bay Buccaneers turned the page and are ready to take on the Cleveland Browns in Week 2, but player performances stick with guys throughout the season.

Everything from Week 1 to Week 18 is on the table when it comes to evaluation, and five Buccaneers players need to bounce back after a tough game against the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Alex Anzalone has to clean up the fundamentals

There is no other option to start this list. Alex Anzalone is the No. 1 Buccaneer who needs to step up this week. He finished the game with seven tackles but didn’t make any splash plays. He blew the coverage on the Mike Gesicki touchdown, and while Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers defense do have faith in Anzalone, it all comes down to fundamentals for a veteran like him.

The Browns have a talented tight end in second-year pass-catcher Harold Fannin Jr. out of Bowling Green. Bowles told reporters Wednesday that Fannin is going to get his catches. That means Anzalone has to be on his game, because if he’s not, Fannin will make plays the same way Gesicki did last week. Not many people had Gesicki tabbed as the Bengals’ leading receiver coming out of that game, and it flipped things on its head.

It didn’t matter what Tampa Bay did to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to a certain extent because Gesicki was running down the seam and making plays over the middle. Anzalone really needs a good game this week.

Rueben Bain Jr. can’t play superhero

Sticking on the defensive side of the ball, Rueben Bain Jr. is the next obvious candidate. You could throw Yaya Diaby in here as well, and that’s fair considering he’s a veteran and Bain just played his very first NFL game. Still, 24 pass rush snaps and zero pressures per PFF (one pressure per NextGenStats on the same amount of pass rush snaps) is not what anyone expected from the 15th overall pick.

Bowles said in an interview with WFLA 8 that there just wasn’t a lot there from Bain. He elaborated on Wednesday, saying Bain got frustrated after getting stalled and chipped a few times, then tried to play superhero, which created dysfunction across the entire pass rush. He wasn’t the only one doing it, either.

The concept is simple. If one guy is supposed to hit the B gap and the other is supposed to twist around to the A gap, but that second guy sees a direct path to the quarterback and freelances into the B gap instead, now two defenders are hitting the same area. They’re either going to run into each other or the offensive line is going to stonewall both of them. Sacks look awesome in the box score, but cohesion matters more.

Teamwork often leads to the stats you’re looking for. Bain needs to trust the scheme against Cleveland and let the results follow.

Cody Mauch must hold his ground in the interior

Flipping to offense but staying in the trenches, center Cody Mauch really struggled against the Bengals, particularly against Dexter Lawrence. He won a couple reps, but he was mostly getting pushed around and allowed a team-high three pressures. When the interior pocket collapses, quarterbacks can’t step up and get into a full throwing motion, which leads to inaccurate passes and worse.

Mauch was healthy all offseason and said he felt great, but you do have to wonder how much of last week’s performance stems from the injury he dealt with last year. The competition was stiff with Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, and B.J. Hill, but if Tampa Bay wants to get back to the playoffs, it has to beat top-level competition.

You can’t let that fall by the wayside and chalk it up to facing good players. At some point, you have to come out on top in consistent fashion. Your offensive line is only as strong as its weakest link, and unfortunately, Mauch was that link in Week 1.

Vita Vea needs to be the engine Bowles says he is

Going back to the defensive trenches, Vita Vea has to step up. He got paid this offseason, and while Bowles acknowledged some rust with hand placement, one pressure on 26 pass rush snaps and zero run stops is a non-factor performance in both phases.

The Buccaneers cannot have that from the guy they proclaim their defense revolves around. Bowles said during the hold-in standoff that the defense starts and ends with Vea — he is the engine that makes it go.

Calijah Kancey was the only disruptor on Tampa Bay’s defensive line last week, and he looked pretty good. If Kancey is out there making plays, Vea better pull his own weight, too. And the excuse of missed practice time only goes so far. Vea started practicing during the Jacksonville Jaguars joint practices in the final week of training camp, had the dead week after roster cuts, and then had all of Week 1 prep.

That’s roughly three weeks to ramp up. Against Cleveland’s interior offensive line, he should find more success, but he has to show it.

Cade Otton must play like a No. 1 tight end

Last but not least, tight end Cade Otton needs to bounce back. Start with the bad drop on second-and-14 that created a third-and-14, and then Bucky Irving fumbled on the next play. That’s the perfect example of how one mistake can snowball into bigger problems. Otton finished with three receptions for 26 yards and wasn’t much of a factor in the blocking game.

Just like Vea, Otton got paid this offseason with a three-year, $30 million deal that includes $20 million guaranteed. You look at what the Las Vegas Raiders did with Michael Mayer, who has worse stats and isn’t as good a player, getting paid more. There’s value in Otton’s deal, but the point remains: He’s getting paid as a starting tight end and needs to play like it.

Otton is an all-around inline tight end who can line up in the slot, chip pass rushers, and create space in the run game. He’s Baker Mayfield’s safety net over the middle of the field for easy throws. If Otton can’t deliver against the Browns, who feature a tough matchup in Carson Schwesinger and a talented secondary, Tampa Bay loses a weapon in every phase of the offense. He needs to get off to a good start this week because his performance touches the passing game, the blocking game, and the run game all at once.

These five guys aren’t the only Buccaneers who could play better, but they are the ones who need to step up most when Tampa Bay hosts Cleveland. If even a few of them deliver improved performances, the Buccaneers should look like a completely different team in Week 2.