Patriots: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 2

Patriots Pre-Season Game 2: Buccaneers 27 - Patriots 10

The Good:

Kicker Stephen Gostkowski's 53-yard field goal at the end of the first half was arguably the team's best play of the night.

WR Wes Welker gains 12 yards on third-and-8 at the end of the first quarter, which was one of the best plays by a Patriots receiver all night. He later converted another third down.

The Bad:

QB Tom Brady's Ankle Injury: "The key is not to go out there and aggravate anything when I'm not ready to go," said Brady. Obviously I'd love to be out there with my teammates, but Coach made the decision that that's not the smartest thing to do right now."

Second-year Safety Brandon Meriweather looked to be in considerable pain on the sideline after leaving the game in the first quarter. If Meriweather's injury is serious, it's another blow to a secondary which is already depleted.

On a night when the Patriots seemed committed to the run, they finished with 56 yards on 22 carries (2.5 avg.)

The Ugly:

Again, Matt Cassel fails to deliver on the field. In all, he directed six drives and the offense produced just three points, which wasn't necessarily all his doing but it ultimately comes back to the quarterback. Cassel does not look poised to be the #2 QB for the New England Patriots.

Center Dan Connolly's errant shotgun snap resulted in a touchdown for the Buccaneers.

Final Thoughts:

"We didn't make enough plays and then gave too much on first down and gave up short conversions on third down. Missed tackles. Big plays. That will about do it." -- Linebacker Mike Vrabel

"Rookie or not, no one is really executing to the level that we expect for ourselves. We have to go back to work and see what we need to correct, rookies, veterans and anyone in between." -- Running back Sammy Morris

“Well, I think it was pretty obvious that we have a lot of work to do based on tonight, really in all three phases of the game. I didn’t think we played as well or competitively as we’re capable of playing, certainly. It’s a lot of little things, but those little things add up to big things. Starting with me, we all have to do a better job. We’ll see another good team this week, against Philadelphia, and hopefully we can get a little better performance than that.” -- Coach Bill Belichick