Patriots 25 Bucs 21: Four Key Takeaways, including a dominant Tom Brady

The Patriots beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second week of preseason after three days of joint practices together. Tom Brady dominated early as the Patriots eventually prevailed 25-21 at home. Here are the four key takeaways from the game.

1. America completely overreacted to Tom Brady's knee "injury"
As if Brady returning to practice the next day didn't make it obvious enough that his injury wasn't serious, he hammered the point home tonight. Brady completed his first 11 passes before throwing a single incompletion and leaving the game. He had a touchdown and a 2 point conversion. Brady's favorite target was Danny Amendola, who hauled in six catches for 71 yards, including the aforementioned touchdown. Not bad.

2. Defense gets pressure
The Patriots starters absolutely harassed Josh Freeman and the Bucs' first team offense. They racked up four sacks early as Tampa Bay's starters struggled to get anything going. Particularly impressive were Chandler Jones (1 sack) and Brandon Spikes (2 sacks). Still, before we get too excited, we've seen this happen before. In particular, the Patriots defense suffocated the Bucs two years ago in preseason, only to have the same lukewarm pass rush once the regular season started.

Another bright spot for the Pats defense was when rookie Logan Ryan (from Rutgers of course) took an interception by Tampa backup Mike Glennon back for a touchdown.

3. Tim Tebow does nothing
While Ryan Mallet had a hit-or-miss performance, which included an impressive touchdown grab by Zach Sudfeld, his competitor Tim Tebow failed to impress. Tebow took over in the second half, and the team didn't pick up a first down until 8:22 was left in the game on a Brandon Bolden run. Tebow also threw a bad interception on an overthrow down the middle of the field. He finished the game 1 of 7.

4. Tavon Wilson not looking great
The much criticized second round reach last year wasn't making Belichick look very smart for picking him. The Patriots had a goal line stop that was waived off due to a penalty on Wilson. Wilson was then almost right away victimized by receiver David Douglas on a touchdown grab. The second year player has seen his playing time dip in favor of rookie Duron Harmon, he hasn't been doing much to increase his standing. If he wasn't a second round pick, he may be a risk to be cut already. Then again, he probably should've never been drafted that high.