Brady Starts, Ochocinco Scores In a Win Over the Buccaneers

Tom Brady and several other Patriots' starters played the majority of the first half against Tampa Bay on Thursday night. Chad Ochocinco also caught his first pass and touchdown in a Patriots uniform.

Here's a quarter by quarter breakdown.

1st Quarter

On the first series of the game, Jerod Mayo and the Patriots forced Tampa to go 3 and out.  

On the first offensive series, Tom Brady completed his first pass of the preseason to Wes Welker.  A couple plays later, Danny Woodhead busted through the Tampa Defense on a 28 yard run.  

Two plays after that, Brady fired a 17 yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez.  It capped a 5 play, 64 yard drive for the Pats, and it took them a mere 2 minutes and 8 seconds to score on the Bucaneers.

The Patriots Defense forced another 3 and out for the Bucaneers.

Brady marched his team down the field again, this time, an 8 play 61 yard drive was finished by Chad Ochocinco, who caught his first pass of the preseason in a Pats uniform. The pass was a 8 yard TD from his new buddy, Tom Brady.  Just like that it was 14-0.  

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked sloppy on both sides of the ball. The Patriots defense was suffocating. They gave Tampa a lot of different looks, which kept them off kilter all night.  

The Patriots blew the doors off Tampa Bay in the first period, going up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.  

2nd Quarter

The Buccaneers started off the second quarter in complete disaray. Their young Quarterback, Josh Freeman, was left high and dry by his offensive line all night, and the Patriots forced another punt on the first series of the second quarter.  

Tom Brady stayed in the game for the first series of the second for the Patriots, and the Bucs Defense, after being embarassed by Brady on the first 3 drives, put some pressure on him and forced the Patriots to punt for the first time in the game.

Ben Jarvis-Green Ellis scored his second rushing touchdown of the game, capping another scoring drive, this one putting the Patriots up 28-0.  The Buccaneers tried to go into halftime with a little momentum, but were unable to do so, as they missed a 47 yard field goal with no time on the clock in the second quarter. 

HALFTIME

The Patriots lit up the Bucs defense in the first half, rushing for 118, passing for 117.  They scored 4 touchdowns in the first half and pretty much dissected the Tampa Bay defense.

The Patriots defense pitched a first half shutout, allowing only 8, yes 8, passing yards and 70 total yards in the first half.  Tampa Bay converted one of eight third down opportunities and the first half was complete and total domination by the Patriots on both sides of the ball. About the only thing the Patriots did not do well in the first half was in the kickoff and punt return area, and if that is your biggest area of concern through the first half, you're doing pretty good.

3rd Quarter

Ryan Mallet and Stevan Ridley started the second half for the Pats at quarterback and running back respectively, and picked up right where they left off last week against Jacksonville.  Just when it seemed like the second half would be the Ridley-Mallet show again, Mallet made his first big mistake of the preseason, when he threw a pick to Albert Mack, who returned the ball 70 yards for a touchdown.  A successful point after cut the Patriots lead to 28-7.

On the next Pats drive, Stevan Ridley followed Mallet's interception on the previous posession, with a turnover of his own, as he fumbled the ball as the Patriots went for it on 4th and inches.

The Buccaneers coughed the ball up on the first play of their next series, as the ball delflected off a Buccaneers receiver and fell in the lap of Pats CB, Klye Arrington.  Ryan Mallet recovered from his interception well, including a couple bullets to Matthew Slater. Stephen Gostowski kicked a 44 yard field goal to cap the drive led by Mallet, they led the Bucs 31-7 with 3:17 to go in the third.

The third quarter came to an end, and was arguably the worst offensive quarter so far this preseason for the Patriots.  They turned the ball over twice and only scored a field goal.  They still led the Buccaneers 31-7 at the conclusion of the third.  

4th Quarter

The Buccaneers showed some signs of life at the start of the 4th, as they scored their first offensive touchdown of the game. They ran the ball in for a score.  It was the first signs of weakness shown in the armor that is the Patriots defense.  With 9:28 to play in the 4th, the Bucs had cut the lead to 31-14.

A scary moment came late in the fourth, when Danny Woodhead was flattened on a helmet to helmet hit during a Tampa Bay punt return. Woodhead had trouble staying on his feet after the hit and was helped off the field by his teammates.  With the NFL coming down harder than ever on helmet to helmet hits, even though no foul was called on the play, expect the league to hand down a fine later in the week.

The Patriots held off the Buccaneers last scoring drive to secure a 31-14 victory.  The team has Friday off before returning to practice on Saturday at Gillette.  

The practice on Saturday will be the last one open to the public.  The practice will be from 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Their next preseason game is Saturday, August 27th, when they travel to Detriot to take on the Lions.  Kickoff is 8:00 p.m.