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By ROY CUMMINGS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 18, 2008

Updated: 08/18/2008 12:33 am

TAMPA - Keep in mind that the Bucs beat the Patriots during the preseason last year, too. But that was with Jeff Garcia starting at quarterback and Joey Galloway in the lineup at receiver.

Neither of those offensive pillars was available for the rematch held Saturday at Raymond James Stadium, and yet the beating the Bucs laid on the defending AFC champions this time was even worse.

The Bucs didn't need a late Matt Bryant field goal to pull this one out. Thanks to an impressive offensive effort and a defense that produced three takeaways and a touchdown, the Bucs ran away with a 27-10 victory.

It should be noted that Pats quarterback Tom Brady was said to be nursing a sore foot and didn't even make the trip to Tampa. Even if he had, he might not have made much difference. That's how strong the Bucs were.

For the second time in as many weeks they didn't turn the ball over and limited their penalties in a game in which they started out by driving 80 yards in 17 plays to take a 7-0 lead.

The Bucs, who were also missing starting fullback B.J. Askew and starting under tackle Jovan Haye, followed up by scoring on three of their next five drives, with a variety of standouts emerging along the way.

One was wideout Antonio Bryant. The Bucs newcomer helped keep the first scoring drive alive by running 16 yards around left end on a third-and-1 play and kept the second one going by turning a short Luke McCown pass into a 33-yard gain.

"That was a bright spot tonight," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said of Bryant's effort. "But at the same time we expect him to deliver like that. He's been blessed with great skill."

Another standout was running back Michael Bennett. After running for 74 yards in the opener last week at Miami, Bennett ran eight times for 57 yards in the first half against New England.

Meanwhile, starting quarterback Brian Griese and backup McCown threw for 123 combined yards, with Griese completing nine of 10 throws for 44 yards and McCown completing seven of 10 throws for 79 yards.

The Bucs' defense had its share of stars, too. The most notable was probably reserve safety Sabby Piscitelli, who started the third quarter by picking up a botched snap at the Patriots 24-yard line and running it in for a touchdown.

Another was lineman Jimmy Wilkerson, who followed up a one-sack, one batted-down pass effort at Miami last recovering a Kevin Faulk fumble to set the stage for the Bucs' second score.

Fellow linemen Ryan Simms (who started in place of Haye for the second week in a row) and Greg White also were impressive as run-stoppers, especially in the early going when both helped shut down the Patriots' offense.

Overall, it resulted in a dominating effort for the Bucs, who did not turn the ball over for the second time in as many weeks and certainly will walk away from this game feeling good about their depth.

That was the area the Bucs spent the offseason trying to improve most. With players such as defensive back Elbert Mack picking off a pass and Bennett running strong, they appear to have achieved the goal.

The only area of concern was probably the play of the second- and third-team offensive line. That unit allowed several sacks in the second half, but this was a night when the positives clearly outweighed the negatives.

"We came out ready to play," Gruden said, referring primarily to the offense. "We got into a good rhythm with a nice 17-play drive to start the game, and that was impressive."

The most impressive part of that drive was the Bucs play on third down. Bryant ran 16 yards to convert the first third-down try and Griese passed for three more conversions before Earnest Graham finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge.

The defense quickly matched the effort with its first try, knocking the Brady-less Patriots offense off the field after just three plays, the last of which was a near pick of a Matt Cassel pass by linebacker Barrett Ruud.

The Bucs offense went three plays and out on its next drive, but the defense got the ball back 10 plays into New England's second drive when Wilkerson fell on Faulk's fumble.

The Bucs turned that takeaway into three points, those coming off a 34-yard field goal by Matt Bryant, who righted himself after a difficult outing against Miami in which he pushed two field goal tries wide right.

McCown engineered the second and third Bucs scoring drives, the latter an 86-yard effort that ended with McCown hitting fullback Byron Storer with a 1-yard TD pass to give the Bucs a 17-0 lead.

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