LONDON – On paper, it looked like this would be an easy win for the Patriots against a winless Tampa Bay team. In reality, New England got on the board quickly when Brandon Meriweather read a third-down pass on the fifth play of the game perfectly and ran untouched 39 yards to the end zone.

While the Buccaneers’ defense played well at times, the offense was pretty bad, making for a long day for first-year starting quarterback Josh Johnson. Stat that illustrates a lot: Johnson was making his fourth career start, while Tom Brady has started four Super Bowls.

WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAD THE BALL

This wasn’t the best offensive day for the Patriots, particularly on the offensive line: rookie Sebastian Vollmer and Pro Bowler Logan Mankins were each flagged for multiple holding calls, with Vollmer drawing two on the team’s first drive of the second half, though New England was still able to score. Center Dan Koppen was also whistled for a false start, which is hard to do. The protection also wasn’t great, with Tom Brady absorbing four hits and having to scramble on more than a few occasions. Brady went 183 pass attempts – from late in the Week 2 Jets game until early in the second quarter Sunday – without throwing an interception, a new franchise record (Drew Bledsoe, 179), but promptly threw his second of the game four attempts later. Randy Moss appeared to suffer a shoulder stinger on the first play of the second half when Tanard Jackson lowered his shoulder into him at full speed, and it could not have gotten better when Sabby Piscitelli drilled him in the same left shoulder in the second half. With Moss ailing, rookie Brandon Tate playing his first game in over a year and Sam Aiken as the other receiver option, Wes Welker was called upon frequently and he of course responded, with 10 catches for 107 yards. One note: despite playing a team that statistically had the worst run defense in the NFL coming into the game, New England only had 107 total yards on the ground, averaging 3.8 yards per carry.

WHEN THE BUCCANEERS HAD THE BALL

Poor Josh Johnson. The second-year quarterback, making just his fourth career start, was picked off on his second pass attempt of the day, which was run back for a touchdown, and then his sixth. His protection was poor, as he was sacked once and hit a handful of times, and he didn’t even have his safety valve to go to: New England did a good job of shutting down the run, allowing Cadillac Williams just 29 yards on 11 carries. Derrick Ward had 13 carries for 48. Between them, they averaged just 3.2 yards per. But it wasn’t all the ground game: Johnson just isn’t even an average NFL quarterback yet, and completed 9 of 26 pass attempts with three interceptions, including two to Meriweather in the first quarter; Darius Butler got the third, his second week in a row with a pick. Johnson was lifted for rookie Josh Freeman in the fourth quarter, but he did not fare much better.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Brandon Tate got off to a good start in this area; the rookie’s first kickoff return went for 30 yards. He also saw some time with the offense. Welker had a 24-yard punt return in the first half. Stephen Gostkowski wasn’t asked to try any field goals, and had three touchbacks, helping New England win the battle of field position. The Bucs were without their usual kick returner, Clifton Smith, who was out with a concussion, but rookie Sammie Stroughter took one back 97 yards for a touchdown last week. This week, he was contained, as the Pats’ coverage team, which has had some issues this season, held him to returns of 17, 20 and 16 yards.

COACHING

This game is a perfect scenario for Bill Belichick: his team won, and goes into the bye at 5-2, but that may have been one of the ugliest 35-7 wins in recent history. New England had 10 penalties, many of them along the offensive line, as every member of that unit save right tackle Nick Kaczur drew at least one flag. But the Patriots are 5-2 and head into the bye in first place in the AFC East. Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Greg Olsen should be questioned for their decision-making: with a winless team, they should be going all in, but when they faced a fourth-and-1 at midfield in the second quarter, already down 21-0, they punted. What was there to lose by going for it?

INTANGIBLES

The Patriots won their 17th straight game against NFC opponents and are now 30-4 against the conference since 2001… Brady is now 2-0 against Tampa Bay and New England raised its record against the Buccaneers to 5-2 all-time … Brady had his 29th career 300-yard passing game, and the Pats are 26-3 when he tops that mark … Rookie quarterback Brian Hoyer got to play some snaps for the second game in a row.

smanza@projo.com