QB Josh Johnson's fourth NFL start will come in an exciting venue, London's 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium
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NE Pregame Report: Putting On a Show
Oct 25, 2009 - As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pulled up to Wembley Stadium on Sunday afternoon, a huge rainbow curved over the already-impressive arch that makes London’s premier sports venue so easily recognizable. Perhaps just as impressive was the colorful arrangement or jerseys on the thousands of fans who parted to let the buses through.
Buccaneer red and New England Patriot blue dominated, but there were NFL jerseys of every stripe dotting the sea of fans heading into the stadium. As American football looks to gain a foothold overseas, the packed house of 90,000 that crowded into Wembley on Sunday was an encouraging sign.
And the Buccaneers were thrilled to be a part of it, especially when they saw how much London support there was for their own team.
“We’re really excited,” said Head Coach Raheem Morris. “There are a lot of Buccaneer fans here; I didn’t expect that. It’s a lot more than I thought. There are a lot of people over here who are excited about Buccaneers football, where we’re going and where we’re taking our team. That makes me happy and excited as well.
“Every game is exciting on Sunday, but it’s especially exciting being over here. What a great city, great people. Everybody has been so courteous to us over here.”
Of course, once they were in the stadium and between the football lines painted on the Wembley pitch, it was still the same game, with the same goal. That won’t be easy on this particular Sunday, as the 4-2 New England Patriots are on the opposite sideline, but at least that challenge has kept the players focused through the potential distractions of a cross-Atlantic journey.
“Usually when you travel this go and go somewhere new, the emphasis is trying to keep everybody focused and locked in on the game,” said Morris. “But we’re playing the New England Patriots, so that made it pretty easy for me to keep them focused on the task at hand.
“You’re talking about a very dangerous, very scary, very well-coached football team that can get out there and do just about anything they want when they want to do it. You’ve got to keep them off-balance if you can. You’ve got to do your best to hold up against whatever they’re trying to do against you that day, because it’s going to be something new. You’ve got to prepare well, you’ve got to be ready to adjust and you’ve got to play well.”
Perhaps the most dangerous Patriot, though he has competition for the title, is quarterback Tom Brady. The three-time Super Bowl-winning passer showed just how dangerous he could be in last week’s 59-0 win over Tennessee last weekend, especially during a five-touchdown second quarter. Morris describes Brady as the type of self-contained field general that most usually associate with Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning.
“He’s obviously one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League,” said Morris of Brady. “He changes protections, he changes receivers’ routes, he changes what he wants to do on each play. He has complete dominant control of his offense, and it always makes a quarterback scary when he has that kind of control and that kind of power. They all believe in him and they all trust him.”
Brady will be without his usual blindside protection for the second straight week, as left tackle Matt Light has been deactivated for the game due to a knee injury. He will be replaced by rookie Sebastian Vollmer, a second-round pick who handled that job with aplomb last week against the Titans. Light is one of four Patriots out due to injury, joining wide receiver Julian Edelman, running back Sammy Morris and running back Fred Taylor.
New England’s other four inactives are CB Terrence Wheatley, OL Rich Ohrnberger, G Kendall Simmons and DL Ron Brace. The Patriots’ officially start two running backs, and Kevin Faulk will replace the injured Taylor in the backfield along with Laurence Maroney.
The Buccaneers’ only real question mark heading into the weekend was the health of running back/kick returner Clifton Smith, who suffered a concussion last Sunday against Carolina. Though Smith tried to convince the team that he was ready to play, the Bucs have gone the cautious route and deactivated the Pro Bowl returner for today’s game. Obviously, rookie Sammie Stroughter, who returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, will be able to fill in nicely.
Tampa Bay’s eight inactives are Smith, CB Marcus McCauley, C Jonathan Compas, T Demar Dotson, G Shawn Murphy, DT Dre Moore, DE Kyle Moore and designated third quarterback Byron Leftwich.
Wide receiver Michael Clayton missed some time this week with a hamstring injury but will be able to play. Fellow starter Antonio Bryant is moving around better than he has since his August knee surgery, and the Bucs hope that healthy receivers and the continued development of young quarterback Josh Johnson will spike the passing game.
“We did very well in practice,” said Morris. “The young quarterback, Josh Johnson, is going out there every day and getting better and better. We’re starting to get more of a sense of urgency with Antonio Bryant and Michael Clayton’s out there and we’re starting to get all of those guys in synch.”
Now all that’s left is to prove it on the playing field…a foreign and exciting playing field ringed by fans thrilled to be close to NFL action.
“We felt like we got all our preparation done, everything that we needed to get done,” said Morris. “Everything was properly put in and we did everything the right way, from how we wanted to travel to how we wanted our team to feel. Now here we are and we’re ready to go play a football game. You’ve just got to go out and be your best self. We’ll go out there and give our best performance for all our Buccaneer fans out here in London. We’re prepared to play our best game today.”
The Bucs and Patriots will kick off at 5:00 p.m. Greenwich Median Time, which is 1:00 p.m. in Tampa and the U.S. Eastern Time Zone. Buccaneers.com will provide a halftime update and a final game story after the conclusion of the action. You can also receive in-game updates through the Buccaneers’ official Twitter feed, tbbuccaneers.