Last Sunday's game against the Buccaneers was yet another reminder of how lucky the Patriots are to have Tom Brady at quarterback. A team can overcome injuries to Danny Amendola, Rob Gronkowski, and Shane Vereen with a veteran such as Brady leading the way. Playing with an inexperienced cast, Brady was an efficient 25 of 36 for 225 yards and a couple of touchdowns, limited his mistakes to one bad interception in the end zone, and guided the Patriots to a steady 23-3 win. But Josh Freeman is not Tom Brady, to put it lightly. And the Bucs weren't able to overcome their key injuries; their top two tight ends (Luke Stocker, Tom Crabtree) were inactive, star receiver Vincent Jackson left after the first play of the third quarter after injuring his ribs, and No. 2 receiver Mike Williams was hobbled all game by a leg injury. The Bucs are also down to their third kicker this year. Freeman completed just 19 of 41 passes, threw an awful interception at the end of the first half, and couldn't get anything going in the second half, forcing a punt three times and turning it over on downs twice. The Patriots varied their defensive alignments, switching freely between the 3-4 and 4-3 fronts and one-deep versus two-deep zones, and Freeman couldn't get into any kind of rhythm with his backup receivers. The Bucs needed a full squad to take down the Patriots, and once Jackson went down with the Bucs already trailing, 17-3, they were toast. It didn't help that Rian Lindell missed a 38-yard field goal attempt in the first quarter and didn't have the leg to let the Bucs attempt anything over 50 yards. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the game: Bill Belichick's decision to take his foot off the accelerator in the fourth quarter, running the ball at the end and not tacking on a meaningless field goal or touchdown as he sometimes has done. Belichick wouldn't run up the score on his good friend Greg Schiano. Brady was efficient, but he still doesn't seem quite right. He didn't miss as badly on throws as he did against the Jets, but he had a few poor throws that he usually makes — the short slant pass to Aaron Dobson that went wide, and the throw down the seam to Kenbrell Thompkins that he skipped in the turf (the play was wiped out by a penalty). We'll forgive him for not seeing both Thompkins and Julian Edelman streaking wide open down the middle of the field in the first half, because the play was a designed play-action throwback to tight end Zach Sudfeld (and an incompletion). But the interception in the end zone was terrible; not only did he not see Mark Barron, but Dobson, the intended receiver, was blanketed by his man and not even close to being open. And Brady already admitted that the low pass to a wide-open Dobson in the end zone kept him up all night Sunday. Brady also was a bit indecisive early on, although he definitely settled into a groove in the second and third quarters. Two of his three sacks came on four-man rushes, on which Brady initially had plenty of time to throw. His attack was quite simple: 22 of his 36 passes were thrown short in the middle of the field against the Bucs' deep zones, and only one pass was thrown more than 20 yards downfield. He dinked and dunked his way to five trips inside the red zone. Dobson and Thompkins were much better in terms of awareness and route-running, although each had a bad drop. Running back Stevan Ridley was the unsung hero of the offense. He gained only 35 yards on 11 carries, but he had three fantastic chip blocks to give Brady enough time to hit receivers. On the first touchdown drive, Ridley chipped a linebacker to allow Brady to hit Dobson over the middle for 16 yards on third and 4. Later on that drive, Ridley again chipped a linebacker to let Brady find Thompkins over the middle, and he ran in for the touchdown. And Ridley's chip on Barron in the third quarter let Brady hit Dobson over the middle for 6 yards on third and 2. Right guard Dan Connolly and center Ryan Wendell had a tough day up front, allowing all three sacks and three of four tackles for loss in the run game. The Bucs were stout up front, as Gerald McCoy (three tackles), Akeem Spence (four tackles, a sack, and a tackle for loss), and Adrian Clayborn (six tackles, a sack, and a tackle for loss) were active and disruptive throughout the game. Linebackers Mason Foster and Lavonte David were in on seemingly every tackle, but Foster badly overran his lane on one play to allow Brandon Bolden to break free on a 46-yard run. See more at: http://b.globe.com/16Yft7R Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boston Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/BostonDotCom Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/+BostonDotCom/posts

• published: 25 Sep 2013
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