New England Patriots at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thurs. Aug. 18, 2011 7:30 p.m. EST

The New England Patriots started off their NFL preseason with a bang as they absolutely dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars with an offensive showcase without superstar quarterback Tom Brady. As head coaches usually do in the preseason, Bill Belichick decided to sideline Tom Brady for the first preseason game and for good reason as his reserves exceeded expectations.

All eyes were on rookie quarterback Ryan Mallet in the New England Patriots preseason opener as the consensus is that he will be the future of the franchise under center when two-time NFL MVP Tom Brady decides to call it quits. With that being said, there was a lot interest in whether or not this kid could get the job done and the dedicated fans at Foxboro weren’t disappointed.

Ryan Mallet finished his first preseason game with 164 yards and a passing touchdown. Not only were those stats impressive, but his accuracy was better than expected with just seven incompletions on 19 pass attempts. Even though Mallett was impressive in his first start, the Patriots’ running game was what opened a lot of people’s eyes with running backs Stevan Ridley and Richard Medlin both scoring two touchdowns apiece and racking up 118 total rushing yards.

Now that the New England Patriots have one game in the books and look like they are back to where they left off last season, they will go on the road to face off against a very good Tampa Bay Buccaneers team on Thursday night.

Much like the Patriots, the Bucs looked very good in their preseason opener with quarterback Josh Freeman leading the way to victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, 25-0.

This game will be interesting since the Bucs will be playing their starters a lot longer than most teams do. With that being said, Belichick will have to decide whether or not he will want to do the same or see if his second team can have a repeat performance.

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