Game 5: Buccaneers 13, Patriots 10

TB announcers are Chris Myers and Charles Davis. Myers is usually a fun listen.

Bucs stop the Pats opening drive. Ronde Barber blitzes to shut down a draw play and Brady is hit
as he throws on 3rd down. Wobbler is caught by Welker but it's short.

Bucs also open 3-and-out. Garcia throws one into the dirt under pressure on 2nd down and throws an
awful pass a mile over Hilliard's head on 3rd.

Tampa's taking an early lead in the Cheerleader Derby, a contest at which they're perennial front-runners.

Pats drive into Tampa territory with Kevin Faulk getting a bunch of touches. Gaines Adams stops the drive by batting back a Brady pass on 3rd down.

A second 3-and-out for the Bucs as Joey Galloway drops a pass on 3rd-and-2.

Matt Cassel enters the game at QB for New England. The highlight of a very uneventful 1st quarter is Cassel completing a 10-yard pass to Jabar Gaffney for a 1st down just as he's getting blown up by a Buc blitzer. Cassel also converts a 4th-and-1 with a QB keeper to end the 1st quarter near the Bucs' red zone. 0-0 after one. Sammy Morris punches it in a few plays later to give the Pats a 7-0 lead.

Garcia's night is over. He was 1-for-4 for 4 yards. Luke McCown in, along with Michael Pittman. But it's Earnest Graham, dubbed "Mr. August" by Myers, who finally puts a spark in the Buc offense with a couple of nice runs. Just as Charles Davis compliments Tampa's commitment to "pounding the rock," Gruden gets pass-happy from the Patriot 10 and McCown gets sacked back-to-back to force a FG attempt. McCown had no one open and the young o-line didn't slow the Patriot defenders down much. Bryant FG is good, 7-3, New England.

Sammy Morris is running well, but Cassell can't complement him with a completion as New England goes 3-and-out. Reche Caldwell didn't look terribly fast running a deep route on 3rd down.

Tampa crosses midfield with Graham getting a bunch of touches, then McCown finds Paris Warren 3 times for 34 yards to put the Bucs in the end zone with a minute left in the half. 10-7 Tampa.

Cassel gets sacked and then takes a knee to run out the first half down 10-7.

Game switches to New England's announcers, Don Criqui and I believe Randy Cross. Nice play by Buc kick returner to let opening kick of the 2nd half bounce out of bounds. Tampa starts at the 40. On the sidelines, Gostkowski is NOT happy. Kenneth Darby now the main Buc TB; McCown still QB. Bucs 3-and-out thanks to a poor blitz pickup by Darby of Justin Rogers, who sacks McCown on 3rd down.

Patriots bring in Matt Gutierrez at QB and Heath Evans at TB. Gutierrez completes one pass for a first down, but comes up short later on a 3rd-down scramble. Punt lands in end zone. A lot of that happening this preseason.

Bruce Gradkowski now QBing for Tampa Bay. He pilots the Bucs out to midfield but then shows the QB sneak is a fine art, failing miserably to convert a 3rd-and-1 and getting stuffed by Moore. The Bucs go for it, though, and Lionel Gates converts. Gates makes up for it a little later by coughing the ball up on a sweep. Rogers, who's having a big night for New England, recovers.

Evans gets a ton of room around right tackle for an 11-yard run. Gutierrez, who's running everything out of shotgun, drills one to Bam Childress for 15. Gaines Adams stops Evans for minimal gain as the 3rd quarter runs out with Tampa still up 10-7. A Garrett Mills catch-and-run gains 15 more, to the Buc 23. A DPI gets them down to the 6, but Evans gets stuffed, Gutierrez gets tripped by his lineman, and Gutierrez overthrows Kelvin Kight breaking open to the corner of the end zone to force a FG. Gostkowski ties the game at 10 with 11:18 left in the 4th quarter.

Gates opens the next drive with a 21-yard burst, but Mel Mitchell hits Gradkowski on a blitz near midfield to force an incomplete pass. Bucs punt.

Gutierrez hits Marcellus Rivers for 18, and Quinton Smith runs for 8, before the drive bogs down with a false start and an incomplete bomb.

Gradkowski hits Kyle Smith, who makes a tough sliding catch for 9 to move the sticks. At this point, Gruden just decides to shove Darby down the Patriots' throats until they stop him. Darby runs seven straight times to set Bryant up for the game-winning chippie, and Tampa comes away with a 13-10 win.

Kenneth Darby's probably the lead story of Tampa's win. He had 97 total yards and showed decent speed and breakaway capability. The Bucs ran almost twice as much as they passed, sensible since their QBs weren't much to write home about.

New England's most impressive player was Justin Rogers. The rookie LB had 6 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. I liked Cassel's play, though he was just 4-7-32. Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Richard Seymour did not play, and I don't believe Laurence Maroney did either.

5 down, 60 to go. I'm calling an audible and taking a break until the Redskins-Titans game comes on live on NFL Network at 7 p.m. CDT.