The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers face no easy task searching for their first victory by having to travel north and take on the undefeated 2-0 New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Bucs coach Greg Schiano is a friend of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, but the good will between friends will be paused once the opening kickoff occurs. Live online streaming instructions for the game can be found below.
The Patriots have managed a pair of wins despite Tom Brady having to throw to an inexperienced receiving corps. Tight end Rob Gronkowski remains sidelined and is unlike to play against the Bucs, as is receiver Danny Amendola with a groin injury. New England will likely need Brady to put up better numbers than the 185 yards passing on 19 of 39 throws against the Jets last week, his lowest numbers in three seasons.
New England’s defense has had the luxury of facing a pair of rookie quarterbacks in EJ Manuel and Geno Smith in their first two games and they have been able to take advantage of the youngsters’ inexperience, limiting them to an average 61.5 passer rating. Tampa’s Josh Freeman isn’t too far off that mark with a 63 passer rating through two games, worst amongst all NFC quarterbacks.
Bucs coach Greg Schiano was referred to the position by Belichick so he will have a little something extra to prove on Sunday, to show his friend that he’s up for the challenge and is ready to play with the big boys. The Bucs could easily be 2-0 right now as their first two losses were by a total of three points combined. The Patriots are on the flip side of that luck with their two wins coming by a cominbed five points.
Tampa Bay’s secondary will get a boost against the Patriots as Dashon Goldson had his suspension reduced to a single game, clearing him to take the field today. He joins Darrelle Revis as a key component of a strong Bucs defense that aims to give the young Patriots receiving corps fits and limit Brady’s effectiveness without his regular targets to aim at.
Once you look past the storylines, the Patriots have the experience and home field advantage that should lead them to victory. I feel like Tampa Bay has played some close games and is due a win, and it’s their defense that will lead the way with some key turnovers. My prediction is the Bucs win by a score of 19-17 in a scrappy and hard fought game.
Today’s Sunday early NFL Football game between the visiting and winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers and undefeated Tom Brady-led New England Patriots will formally kick off at 1pm EST / 10am PST in high definition (HD) on Fox. There is no free live online streaming version of this football game offered by Fox as it is available for free over the air on television sets. The popular alternative is to sign up for NFL Sunday Ticket and watch every NFL game available on TV from across the country here, with the option to add the Max package and get live online streaming football games on cell phones, iPads and other tablets, laptops anything else with a screen that links up to the Internet.
