 Gostkowski had terrific outing on Sunday against the Buccaneers. (USA TODAY Images) |
The New England Patriots hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a week three showdown.
Despite the Buccaneers playing in a different conference, these two teams are very familiar with each other going back to training camp joint practices. New England started slow, but controlled nearly the entire game and won 23-3.
Here is my player of the game. --
Stephen Gostkowski: This was a great team win for the Patriots. No one really stood out for the Pats on offense or defense. While the team played well, no one played particularly great throughout the games entirety. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski was on his game, however, nailing three field goals along with two extra points.
His career long 53-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter was a huge momentum shift for the team. One underlying aspect of his performance was not allowing the Buccaneers to return a single kickoff. In a close game like Sunday's contest, a big return could have made a huge difference and Gostkowski ensured that wouldn't happen. For all the heat he's received from Patriots fans over the past year -- fair or unfair -- it was great to see him have such a solid performance.
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