The Patriots punished the Panthers on Friday Night.  Tom Brady was razor sharp as he completed 17 of 22 passes for 167 yards with 2 TD passes.  The other three Patriots’ QBs only completed 5 of 11 passes for 69 yards.  2nd year man Laurence Maroney had a solid game with 15 carries for 58 yards (3.9 ypc).  Fullback Heath Evans was a force as he carried the ball 7 times for 58 yards (8.3 ypc) with 1 TD run and they also caught 2 passes for 19 yards and a TD.  Sammy Morris also got his work in with 7 carries for 27 yards (3.9 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 23 yards.  The Patriots rushed the ball for 148 yards on 36 carries (4.1 ypc) and they completed 22 of 33 passes for 236 yards.

The defense was sharp as they held the Panthers to 57 yards rushing on 18 carries (3.2 ypc).  The Panthers did throw for 222 yards on 22 of 36 passing.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270824029

The Patriots looked pretty sharp in the first half as they built a 17-7 lead but the Titans roared back against the Patriots reserves in the 2nd half.  Tom Brady didn’t look especially sharp completing 10 of 19 passes for 145 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 interceptions (one of which was returned 51 yards for a TD by Titans’ CB Cortland Finnegan).  Matt Cassel wasn’t his usual pre-season superstar self last night as he completed 6 of 12 passes for 47 yards with 2 pick-offs.  Matt Gutierrez finished up the game completing 4 of 9 passes for 44 yards and he also scored a TD on a 2-yard run.  Sammy Morris got his work in last night carrying the ball 7 times for 23 yards (3.3 ypc).  Fullback Heath Evans also was busy with 6 carries for 23 yards (3.8 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 3 passes for 12 yards.  Kevin Faulk ran the ball 7 times for 15 yards (2.1 ypc) and he caught 6 passes for 89 yards (14.8 avg).  WR Wes Welker only caught one pass but it was a 28-yard TD from Tom Brady.  The offense as a whole didn’t look too good last night for the Patriots.  They ran the ball 26 times for 71 yards (2.7 ypc) and they completed 20 of 40 passes for 227 yards.

The defense looked good in the first half for the Patriots but the Titans stung them in the 2nd half.  The Titans ran the ball 31 times for 131 yards (4.2 ypc) and they completed 17 of 36 passes for 220 yards.  Lucky for the Patriots….this game doesn’t count.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270817017

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.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=270810027