The Tampa Bay Buccaneers edged the New England Patriots in the pre-season opener at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa 13-10 on a Matt Bryant field goal as time expired.
The big news of the night was that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady played 13 plays and was 5 of 7 for 34 yards. None of those 7 attempts went to Randy Moss or Dante` Stallworth who sat out the game as did running back Lawrence Maroney.
Jeff Garcia started for the Bucs and he worked a pair of 3 and out series.
Pre-season games, especially week one, usually show case many of the minor players and this game was no exception as each team played three quarterbacks. The Pats also gave signal calling time to Matt Cassel and Matt Gutierrez, while Tampa saw Luke McCown and Bruce Gradkowski see time behind center.
New England got on the board first when Sammy Morris scored on a two-yard run that capped a long second quarter drive led by Cassel. Morris had 27 yards for nine carries on the night.
The Bucs got on the board, when Bryant kicked the first of two field goals on the night this one a 36-yarder that cut the lead to 7-3. McCown, who didn’t play at all last season, threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Paris Warren and the Buccaneers led 10-7 at half.
Gutierrez would lead the Patriots on a 4th quarter drive that was capped by a Stephen Gostkowski 23-yard field goal and the Pats had tied the game 10-10 with about 11 minutes left.
That set the stage for the final drive and Bryant’s field goal to win it as time expired.
