The Cleveland Browns walked out of Sunday with a 23-19 Week 1 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a lengthy weather delay stopped the game for quite some time. After earning the victory, head coach Todd Bowles revealed how his team handled the delay while waiting for the lightning to pass in the locker room.

While talking with media members during his postgame press conference, the 62-year-old claimed that Browns players focused on refueling, hydrating, and staying loose with music, according to Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. Monken also shared the message he shared with everyone during that time to maintain intensity.

“We refueled, we hydrated, we played music,” Monken said. “[The coaching staff] kept [the players’] vibe up. We said, ‘We are in the driver’s seat.’ We’re up by- [the Buccaneers] need a touchdown. We’re in the driver’s seat. And I told them there’s no other group I’d rather have out there than our defense to close it out.”

Todd Monken on what Cleveland did in the locker room during the 2 hr lightning delay: “We fueled. We hydrated. We played music. We kept the vibe up. We said we are in the driver’s seat.” pic.twitter.com/5iS2AtOQLW

— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) September 20, 2026

The Browns got the defensive stop after the long weather delay, clinching the first victory in the Todd Monken era. Really, the only blemish in Sunday’s win was the run game, as Cleveland couldn’t run the ball against the Tampa Bay defense all day.

But Deshaun Watson actually had a solid performance. The 31-year-old signal-caller finished the contest with 238 passing yards and two touchdowns while completing 24 of his 30 pass attempts. He also led the offense in rushing with 22 yards on the ground.

Todd Monken and his Browns carry over the momentum to Week 3. Cleveland is scheduled to take on the Carolina Panthers for the first home game of the season.