New England will host Tampa Bay for the second act of the 2013 NFL preseason, kicking off on Friday August 16th at 8pm ET. This is one of the games airing on national television, with FOX picking up on the coverage.
- When:
Fri., Aug. 16th, 2013 @ 8:00pm ET
- Where:
Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, MA
- Who’s Favored?
Patriots by 3.5 ~ 41.5 o/u @ BetOnline
- More Info:
Bucs defensive back Darrelle Revis will not be on the field for this game, but there is speculation that he could be in the action as soon as next week.
For the Tampa Bay players who will be on the field, they will try to get past the stomping that they took at home at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens. While it is just the preseason, no team likes to be beaten by 30. The 44-16 loss likely didn’t do anything to silence the doubters of quarterback Josh Freeman and the offense.
Tampa Bay managed just 273 total yards of offense against the Ravens, so some things will need to pick up against the Patriots this time around. Freeman threw just seven passes, but it’s probably a good bet he is seen a bit more in this game.
New England defeated Philadelphia 31-22 in their preseason opener, as fans saw Tom Brady, Ryan Mallett, and yes, Tim Tebow all play quarterback. Tebow got his share of snaps, though we won’t see much of that in the regular season.
What was a bit surprising was the success of the Patriots’ run game. New England rushed for 248 yards on the night, which could be a huge asset to them if they can keep up production during the regular season to alleviate pressure off of Brady. That will of course start with more production against Tampa Bay on Friday night.