Tom Brady and Kenbrell Thompkins were on the same page Sunday against Tampa Bay. Credit: Getty Images
The Patriots and Buccaneers in real time:
1:01-Gotta savor a rare Erin Andrews appearance in New England, she’s working the sidelines for FOX.
1:08-Patriots go 3-and-out on their first drive, picking up right where they left off against the Jets.
1:15-You can’t take the stink of the Bills out of Rian Lindell who missed an easy 38-yard field goal for Tampa Bay, haha great start.
1:20-Second Patriots possession lasts a little longer with one first down, progress!
1:23-Sack by Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich, New England’s two best defensive players.
1:29-Tough start for Kyle Arrington who’s been burned repeatedly by Vincent Jackson and called for a pass interference on Mike Williams.
1:32-Long drive for Tampa Bay but they settled for a 30-yard field goal.
1:39-Another 3-and-out for the Patriots, this is not going well. Yeesh, hey did you know their top five receivers from last season aren’t playing?
1:40-Turd sandwich would best describe the first quarter. Tampa Bay leads 3-0 and New England had one first down.
1:47-Big 4th down stop by the Patriots D (on 4th and 5 from their 34), now it’s time for the offense to come alive.
1:51-Nice to see Aaron Dobson catch a key 3rd down catch and yes, he bobbled it but who cares? He caught it.
1:53-Dobson is the greatest Patriots receiver ever! Haha another big grab, 6 yards on 4th and 2.
1:56-1st career NFL touchdown for Kenbrell Thompkins, 16-yard catch and run puts New England ahead 7-3. Can’t overstate the importance of him and Dobson figuring things out quickly. John Lynch needs to realize that Brady has no other options than to throw to them, he’s acting like Brady is doing them a favor. Nope, this is the crappy situation.
2:05-Lynch “Jackson has to catch that,” as Talib perfectly times it and knocks the ball away.
2:06-Another 4th down stop by New England, Brandon Spikes stuffs Martin on 4th and 1. Haha guess they don’t have much confidence left in Lindell.
2:11-Yawn, FOX announcers John and Kevin Burkhardt making the lame joke about Hoomanawanui being a hard name to pronounce. I had never thought of that!
2:17-Tough pass interference on Bucs rookie CB Jonathan Banks. Looked like a clean pass deflection vs. Dobson.
2:18-Maybe the 1st catch of Ridley’s career (slight exaggeration) good for a 1st down, setting up 1st and Goal for New England at the 7. Brady is doing a fine job of spreading it around to all his options. Check that, he was stopped before the marker but after a long review Brady sneaked it for a 1st down.
2:25-Mr. Touchdown, Kenbrell Thompkins, 5-yard catch on a fastball from Brady. 14-3 Patriots, huge TD late 1st half.
2:29-Haha Tampa Bay wanted to just run out of the clock but then they decided to throw it and Freeman gets picked off by Talib (his 3rd of the season). Greg Schiano looks overmatched in the NFL, not that he set the world on fire at Rutgers.
2:33-Belichick should send a Christmas Card to Schiano and Freeman for those 3 free points. 53-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski gives New England a 17-3 halftime lead.
2:49-Tommy Kelly has been a revelation, he’s played great in all three games. He combined on a sack with Jones who also is off to a fantastic start to the season.
2:54-Welcome back Brandon Bolden, 46-yard run in his first game of the season.
2:56-No TD for Thompkins on that catch but 20-yard catch is fine with me.
2:57-Awful pass by Brady, he had Dobson wide open in the back of the end zone.
2:58-Not even a hint of a rushing attempt near the goalline and Brady gets picked off in the end zone by Mark Barron. Bolden and Ridley have been running well, why not give them a touch there?
3:10-After some nice YAC by Hooman, Gostkowski gets a 46-yard field goal. 20-3 Patriots. Flash to Brady sitting on the bench looking at his lap, he does this all the time. Haha what is he doing there?
3:18-Bucs are driving, sort of, but Patriots are in complete control up 20-3 after 3 quarters. Spoiler alert: I don’t think Tampa Bay is coming back.
3:24-3rd 4th down stop of the game for the Patriots defense, they are playing really well. It also helps that Tampa Bay’s rag tag receiving corps can’t catch.
3:28-I couldn’t tell you why LeGarrette Blount is still in the NFL, let alone on the Pats, he averages about zero yards per carry.
3:31-Lynch: “They’re (Bucs) are a good football team.” The scoreboard would disagree with that shaky and biased (since he used to be on the team) assessment.
3:33-33-yard field goal by Gostkowski, even though Lynch compares Schiano to Belichick failing in Cleveland. So yeah, look out for him in the next decade.
3:37-I couldn’t tell you why the NFL even bothers to have kickoffs anymore since they almost always result in touchbacks or poor returns.
3:42-23-yard run by Blount which only means one thing: Tampa Bay has officially given up.
3:44-Fox has run out of stuff to talk about so they put up the graphic of all the bum QBs picked in front of Brady in 2000.
3:47-Garbage time has been changed to Blount Time from here on out.
3:55-Non-football item: FOX has a new cooking show with kids on it, haha what a fantastic idea. Plus it’s on Friday night so it’s sure to be a hit.
3:59-Tampa Bay’s sorry day summed up in one stat: 0 for 4 on 4th down.
4:00-Patriots win 23-3 and it didn’t even feel that close. The Bucs (0-3) are a mess while New England is 3-0 for the first time since 2007. I’m looking forward to them playing real teams, starting next Sunday night in Atlanta.
