How bad were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday as they were trounced by the New England Patriots across the pond at Wembley Stadium in London by the score of 35-7? Bad enough that this long time NFL observer kept looking for John McKay when the cameras focused on the Bucs bench. McKay of course was the first head coach when Tampa Bay entered the NFL and had to suffer through 26 straight losses before his team got their first win. This edition is only 0-7 so far; however the NFL campaign is not yet half over this team may not have bottomed out yet.

The Patriots were not the juggernaut that they were last week in their destruction of the Tennessee Titans by a score of 59-0. But they far outclassed the hapless Buccaneers; New England quarterback Tom Brady had another great game despite throwing two interceptions. Brady completed 22/32 pass attempts for a total of 308 yards and had 3 touchdowns to go along with the 2 picks.

On the other side of the field and the spectrum was Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Johnson who seemed to be having a foggy day in London town. Back in 1983 former Bucs coach John McKay said that his staring QB was a nice kid; but so was his wife and she was not a quarterback. That phrase could easily apply to Johnson who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but behind center at Wembley Stadium.

The Buccaneers QB was 9/26 for an unimpressive 156 yards. He did have one touchdown but threw three interceptions including one that led to the Pats scoring the first points of the game. Josh Freeman came in at the QB position in the second half and was 2/4 on pass attempts for a total of 16 yards.

This game was as lopsided as the final score indicates as New England dominated in every category conceivable. The Patriots scored their first touchdown with 12:26 to go in the first quarter as Brandon Meriweather intercepted a Gibson pass and took the ball 39 yards into the end-zone. After Pats kicker Stephen Gostkowski put the ball through the uprights New England led 7-0 and never looked back.

Brady hit three different receivers for touchdowns in the contest. He threw a 14 yard pass to Wes Welker with 2:16 left in the first. He connected with Sam Aiken for a 54 yard touchdown with 11:18 in the second quarter. The last TD of the day for Brady was in the third quarter as he hit Benjamin Watson with a 39 yard pass. The Patriots also got a touchdown via the rushing game as Laurence Maroney went one yard to get into the end zone for his team in the fourth.

The only time Tampa Bay scored was with 1:14 left in the first half as he threw a 33 yard pass to Antonio Bryant with 1:14 left in the first half. After the point after by Bucs kicker Shane Andrus the Patriots lead was down to 21-7 going into the half. If the Buccaneer could have mounted any kind of offensive threat they still could have been within striking distance. But the team on the field in the Tampa Bay uniforms did not have the capability to do that.

New England is now 5-2 and have next Sunday off as they have their Bye week. They will host the Miami Dolphins in two weeks. Tampa Bay is still winless on the season with an 0-7 record; they will also have their Bye week next Sunday and then will host the Green Bay Packers in two weeks.  

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