Pats jump out to early lead, pound Bucs

The Patriots jumped out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter and 28-0 at the half as the starters throttled Tampa Bay and the backups held on for a 31-14 victory over the hosts. Tom Brady looked sharp going 11/19 with 119 yds and 2 TD's. The defense was the story of the night in my eyes as the pass rush was all over Tampa QB Josh Freeman. Andre Carter was in his grill all night and made a huge impact on the game as well as fellow D-lineman Vince Wilfork, Eric Moore, Gerard Warren, and Mark Anderson. The scary part is that Albert Haynesworth and Shaun Ellis(projected startes) didn't play tonight due to various injuries. Another strong performance from the team as fans begin to feel better and better about the team's odds heading into the second half of the pre-season. Now here are the winners and losers from the game tonight

Winners:

Tom Brady- the Pro-Bowler looked sharp in his first action of the pre-season connecting with Chad OchoCinco and Aaron Hernandez on TD passes

Danny Woodhead/Ben Jarvus Green-Eliis - the RB duo was very effective tonight rushing for over 100 yards and 2 TD's in one half of action tonight

Andre Carter- see above as he was a best coming off the edge tonight

Jerod Mayo- Mayo had five tackles and two sacks and was the clear leader of the defense that had a terrific night

Wes Welker- a strong night for Welker as he made some good catches and took some hits

Stevan Ridley- Ridley looked strong again tonight throughout the second half and lookds to contribute to the team in the regular season

Losers

Ryan Mallett- the rookie looked like a rookie floating a pick six. He did some good things as well but on a great night for the team, he falls into the loser category

Brandon Meriweather- considering he is in a fight for his job with Sergio Brown, Meriweather didn't do much besides make a few tackles after giving up significant catches.