Cleveland @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 26, 2017 ) Cleveland 13, Tampa Bay 9

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that opened the season with back-to-back wins is far in the rearview mirror, and the team that heads into Week 7 is trying to pull out of a deep slump. The Buccaneers will be operating under new defensive coordinator Mark Duffner while trying to snap a three-game slide when they host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

Tampa Bay is last in the league in scoring defense, surrendering an average of 34.6 points, and decided to part ways with defensive coordinator Mike Smith on Monday. "I have the utmost respect for Mike Smith as a man and as a football coach," Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said in a statement. "These decisions are always difficult, but our top priority here is to ensure that we do everything possible to help this team succeed. ... We all understand that this is a result-based profession and our results to this point have not met our standards." The Browns might be just the team for a struggling defense to see after they totaled 26 points in the last two games, capped by a 38-14 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last week. “We just didn't execute," rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield told reporters. "We didn’t do our job. We weren’t detailed. We didn’t do the things that we talked about all week."

TV: 1 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Buccaneers -3.5. O/U: 50.5

ABOUT THE BROWNS (2-3-1): Mayfield has shown plenty of flashes of the talent that made him the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft but is also dealing with some rookie inconsistency. The Oklahoma product owns five interceptions and three fumbles to go with four touchdown passes and is completing just 55.8 percent of his passes on the season after connecting on 22-of-46 against the Chargers. "Anytime you do not do your job, I'm at fault for majority of that," Mayfield told reporters. "I'm going to be very hard on myself. We have to be able to look at this and learn from it — have to be more prepared coming into the next week. It doesn’t matter what happened."

ABOUT THE BUCCANEERS (2-3): This game will feature a showdown between No. 1 overall draft picks with Jameis Winston under center for Tampa Bay, and the 2015 top pick is dealing with his own inconsistency. Winston was overmatched in a 48-10 loss at Chicago on Sept. 30 and did all he could to keep his team in the game while throwing for 395 yards and four TDs in a 34-29 loss to the Atlanta Falcons last week but also accounted for two crucial turnovers. "Jameis -- he does so many good things out there, he does so many good things," Koetter told reporters. "He has composure, he can make all the throws, he runs the team, he scrambles, he's tough -- but there's a couple balls you'd like to have back. That's every quarterback in the league. That's playing quarterback in the NFL."

EXTRA POINTS

1. The Browns placed WR Rod Streater (fractured neck) on IR and signed WR Da'Mari Scott off the practice squad.

2. Duffner previously served as defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001-02.

3. Tampa Bay signed LB Devante Bond to the active roster.

PREDICTION: Browns 31, Buccaneers 28