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Bill Belichick offers his first take on the win at Wembley.
It's a great way to end this week for our football team. I thought these guys really put in a good week of preparation. We started on Tuesday and got a lot of work done in Foxboro on Wednesday and Thursday and came out here and made the adjustment. And, you know, we went out there, played hard. Made some plays. So did Tampa. Some weren't so good, but we made some good ones. And I'm really proud of the guys for that. They stepped up. We had a pretty good effort on defense in the first quarter. Got a couple turnovers and offensively we were able to get some points on the board, and they scored 35 points. Should be able to win in this league. So really happy with what they did today.
We got a little bit of time now to go back and regroup and work on certainly a lot of things we need to work on here going forward. We've got a tough game coming up against Miami and we know the whole second half of the season really has a lot of challenges from week to week, but we'll tackle Miami first. So good to get on the plane and get back. It's been an enjoyable couple days here and glad we could end it on a positive note for our football team.
Mike Reiss notes at this point, one thing is clear: The team boarding a plane Monday for a return to the States is a closer-knit group than the one that arrived here. And that's never a bad thing.
"We don't as football players often get to spend as much time together as we had," quarterback Tom Brady explained, after he had fired three touchdown passes to help the Patriots improve to 5-2.
"We all went out to dinner on Friday night, and just spending 10 meals together, and sitting on the plane together, I think that experience and getting to know each other will serve us well down the road. There are a lot of new players, and it's nice to come together and experience something like this. It's a unique bonding experience for all of us."
Brandon Meriweather offers his quick thoughts on the trip to London.
To be honest, I think my favorite part besides the win was going to see the palace and Big Ben. Actually, I take that back. We went to a haunted house that was over by Big Ben yesterday and just to see some of my teammates act like little kids, happened to be probably the best part of my weekend.
TEAM TALK
- Game Notes: Patriots at Buccaneers. Stats, streaks, milestones and more.
- Patriots Post Game Quotes.
- Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (10.47 min.), Tom Brady (6.14 min.), Wes Welker (8.06 min.), Brandon Meriweather (3.14 min.) Plus Transcripts.
- Paul Perillo describes the spirited game of flag football played by fans of the Patriots and Buccaneers Saturday in London.
LOCAL LINKS
- Ian Rapoport recaps the Patriots 35-7 Wembley win in front of 84,254 frenzied fans.
- Chris Gasper reports the Patriots are idle next week, but it seemed like the winless and wayward Buccaneers were idle yesterday.
- Christopher Price lists his Ten Things we learned yesterday: Welker remains his steady self.
- Ron Borges says the Patriots did what Super Bowl-contending teams should do: Destroy two sorry teams.
- Dan Shaughnessy notes that switching from snowy Foxborough to the slippery pitch of Wembley did nothing to stall New England’s dominance of NFL paupers.
- Mike Reiss presents his Three Ups and Three Downs and Ten Quick Hits from Sunday's game. Wes Welker was a perfect 10 for 10, with 107 receiving yards and 1 TD.
- Mark Farinella offers his Patriots Hots and Nots from yesterday's performance.
- Ron Borges lists his Best & Worst from Sunday's win over the Bucs.
- Tony Massarotti offers seven observations on the 2009 Pats seven games into the season.
- Albert Breer analyzes Tom Brady's performance, the good and the bad.
- The Herald nominates Meriweather, Brady, Welker and Belichick for it's Player of the Game.
- Karen Guregian notes Brandon Meriweather's first interception came from film study, he recognized the play as one the Bucs ran against Carolina last week.
- Mike Reiss focuses on Brandon Tate's and Sam Aiken's performance at wide receiver.
- Mike Reiss notes Patrick Chung had his most extensive playing time of the season against the Bucs, and Sebastian Vollmer's parents were there to witness him play in person.
- Ron Borges earns his pay on location in London by writing a third article, this one on Tom Brady's "good enough" performance.
- Mike Reiss takes a look at the downs played by offensive personnel. Welker caught one pass for every 5 snaps.
- Mike Reiss looks at and analyzes the positional groupings utilized by the Patriots offense.
- Mike Reiss points out that for the second game in a row, defensive coordinator Dean Pees called the defensive plays from the press box. Linebackers coach Matt Patricia ran the sideline operation.
- Ian Rapoport describes a bit of the scene and the fans in London
- Mark Farinella isn't a fan of Goodell's plan to expand the brand.
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Boston Herald Patriots Notebook: Wes Welker led both teams with a 10/10, 107-yd rec, 1 TD game; Ty Warren was carted off in the 2nd half with an ankle injury but doesn't think he'll miss any playing time; the Pats wore their long spikes and didn't experience any problems with the field; WR Brandon Tate eased his way into some playing time; Junior Seau has played in 24 consecutive regular season wins.
NATIONAL NEWS
- NFL Game Center: Patriots at Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Recap, analysis, stats and that nifty highlight video.
- Tedy Bruschi (ESPNBoston) Hitting the Bye on high: Five observations from Sunday's win over the Bucs.
- ESPNBoston: Video clips, game analysis.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Wrap-up: Patriots 35, Buccaneers 7.
- Peter King (SI) MMQB: Seven storylines from wild week 7.
- Don Banks (SI) Snap Judgments: Week 7.
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Sunday Rewind: Week 7.
- Andrew Perloff (SI) Good quarterbacks are lighting it up like never before and bad quarterbacks are worse than ever.