Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13, New England Patriots 10
The New England Patriots were in their usual “show nothing in the pre season mode” last night against the Buccaneers. Tom Brady played more than he usually does in the pre-season as he completed 5 of 7 passes for 34 yards. Matt Cassel usually shows up big in the pre-season but he wasn’t much of a factor last night as he completed 4 of 7 passes for 32 yards and he ran the ball 3 times for 13 yards (4.3 ypc). Undrafted rookie Matt Gutierrez of Idaho State finished up the game at QB for the Patriots and he completed 6 of 10 passes for 66 yards. Sammy Morris handled the bulk of the running game with 9 carries for 27 yards (3.0 ypc) with a TD. Heath Evans carried the football 6 times for 21 very tough yards (3.5 ypc). Kevin Faulk was busy as usual with 4 carries for 12 yards (3.0 ypc) and 3 catches for 26 yards (8.7 avg). The Patriots offense looked sluggish as a whole as they wound up running the ball 25 times for 89 yards (3.6 ypc) and they completed 15 of 24 passes for 124 yards.
The Patriots got pushed around a little bit in the running game by the Bucs who carried the football 36 times for 169 yards (4.7 ypc). The Bucs also completed 14 of 22 passes for 110 yards. As bad as the Patriots played last night they had a chance to win the game until Matt Bryant kicked a 32-yard field goal for the Bucs as time expired. All that ever matters in the pre-season for the Patriots is that they stay healthy so don’t read much into their performance last night against the Bucs.
