** 2011 Pre-Season Patriots Football ** 
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Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 7:30 PM EDTPre-Season Game 2 - Away Game 1
TV: WBZ-TV
Radio: 98.5 THE SPORTS HUB
Sirius: 94atRaymond James Stadium - Tampa, Florida
SUMMARY:The Patriots opened the preseason last Thursday night with a convincing 47-12 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Gillette Stadium. The 47 points were the most ever for the Patriots in a preseason game. The previous best was a 45-7 win vs. Washington on Sept. 4, 1977. This week, the Patriots will make their first road trip of the season when they travel to Tampa to face the Buccaneers on Thursday, August 18 at 7:30 p.m. from Raymond James Stadium. Tampa Bay opened the preseason last Friday night with a 25-0 victory at Kansas City.
PATRIOTS DEDICATE 2011 SEASON TO MYRA KRAFT:The New England Patriots announced that they will dedicate the 2011 season to the loving memory of Myra Kraft, who passed away on July 20 after a courageous battle with cancer. Every Patriots player and coach will honor Myra's memory by wearing a patch with her initials on it in recognition of her lifelong contributions to the local and global community and her influence on the charitable mission of the entire Patriots organization. The patch will be worn on the left chest of every player throughout the season.
BROADCAST INFORMATION:TELEVISION: This week's game will be broadcast by the Patriots Preseason Television Network and can be seen throughout New England as well as Eastern Canada. The network's flagship station is WBZ-TV Channel 4 in Boston. Veteran CBS broadcaster Don Criqui provides play-by-play for his 17th year with the Patriots and is joined by three-time NFL Pro Bowler and CBS analyst Randy Cross, who joined the preseason broadcast team in 2003.
RADIO: 98.5 FM, The Sports Hub, is the flagship station for the Patriots Radio Network. A complete listing of the network's 37 stations can be found here. Play-by-play broadcaster Gil Santos is in his 34th season as the voice of the Patriots and will call the action along with Patriots Hall of Famer Gino Cappelletti. Santos and Cappelletti are celebrating their 28th season as a tandem.
SERIES HISTORY:The Patriots and Buccaneers will meet in the preseason for the ninth time and the first time since the Patriots lost 27-10 at Tampa Bay in the 2008 preseason. The Patriots are 1-7 alltime against the Buccaneers in preseason play. The only meeting between the two teams in the preseason that was not played at Tampa Bay was in 2000, when the Bucs beat the Patriots 31-21 at Foxboro Stadium. In 1990, the two teams played at Jacksonville.
The Patriots are 5-2 against the Buccaneers all-time in the regular-season. The teams last played against each other in 2009 when the Patriots won 35-7 in London's Wembley Stadium. Head coach Bill Belichick's first game as head coach of the Patriots came against Tampa Bay on Sept. 3, 2000. Tampa Bay claimed a 21-16 victory in that game, but the Patriots have won five of the seven total games in the series, which dates back to 1976, the first year of existence for the Buccaneers franchise. New England won the first three games in the series from 1976-88. Tampa Bay claimed the next two meetings, before a Patriots, 28-0, shutout victory in a meeting between the two teams in 2005.
The Patriots beat the Buccaneers in 1988 and then went 17 years before their next win against the Buccaneers in 2005. The 17-year victory gap is the second longest for the Patriots, trailing only a 33-year win drought against the Washington Redskins.
SERIES TRENDS:Home Record, 2-1
-Foxboro Stadium, 1-1
- Gillette Stadium, 1-0
Away Record, 3-1
- Tampa/Houlihan's Stadium, 2-1
- Raymond James Stadium, 0-0
- Played in London's Wembley Stadium, 1-0
Total Points in Regular Season Series, 124-83
Largest Margin of Victory, 28 pts (12/17/05 and 10/25/09)
Largest Margin of Defeat, 20 pts (11/16/97)
Longest Win Streak, 3 games (1976-88)
Bill Belichick vs. Tampa Bay, 3-1 (2-1 with New England)
PRESEASON HISTORY:The Patriots are 40-31 (.563) in the preseason since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994. Prior to 1994, the Patriots were 60- 96-1 (.385) in the preseason. New England enters this week's game with an all-time preseason mark of 100-127-1 (.441).
BILL BELICHICK IN THE PRESEASON:Bill Belichick has compiled an overall record of 37-29 (.561) in the preseason, including a 26-20 (.565) mark as Patriots head coach. Belichick's teams have been .500 or above in 14 of his 16 previous preseasons as a head coach in the NFL.
NEW ACQUISITION QUOTES: "It's everything; not just what you see on the field, it's how we work in meetings. Every little thing has to be right or you're getting ripped. Everybody gets ripped, even Tom [Brady], me, everybody….I love it. They expect perfection. You don't hear the coaches saying, 'Good play.' That's what you're supposed to do."
"The expectations here, the way things are run, this is how it's supposed to be."
"The first thing that comes to mind is winning, you know, championships. I don't have one and I want to get one before it's all said and done. This is the best opportunity for me to do it and I joined and I'm ready to get in line with the rest of the guys and play my role."
"First and foremost, they do things the right way. It's about accountability. You take accountability for yourself, you take accountability as a team. It's about playing as one. It's about not having any egos. Leave your egos at the door. That's one thing this team does well. They all play together well."
Topic: Patriots (1-0) at Bucs (1-0) 8/18 Pre-Season (Read 13702 times)