LONDON — Cheerio! Enjoying a drizzly day her in London. Just got back from an enjoyable time with the UK Patriots Fan Club at Richmond Park for a flag football game. Unfortunately the Patriots team lost badly to a Bucs team that fielded a couple suspected ringers. It got ugly, causing one UK chap to say, “Their fat guys are better than our skinny guys.” It was true.

Anyway, looking forward to another nice night in the old country, a big UK Patriots party is planned that should be a lot of fun for fans and the PFW boys alike. But before we get to the fun, I figured I’d throw together another six-pack with an eye on Sunday’s game between the real Patriots and Bucs at Wembley. I know it’s a day late, but here we go with a special warm Guinness edition of what for this week will go as a Saturday Six-Pack from across the pond. Enjoy!

1.  Unfamiliarity – Which team will do a better job dealing with all the changes that come with playing a game across the pond. (Have you noticed that’s my favorite phrase in dealing with this trip?) Both franchises seemed to do all their game plan work in the States before traveling late in the week. The Bucs actually came a day later than the Patriots. Both teams cancelled their scheduled Saturday walk-throughs at Wembley. So the players will get their first chance to test the turf and get acclimated to the game day setup during pregame warm-ups. Where is the play clock? What’s the backdrop like? The crowd? Is the pitch different? All those questions will be left to Sunday afternoon. That could make for some unsure, or even sloppy play in the early going on Sunday evening.

2.  Avoid Big plays – With that unfamiliarity and sloppy early play is a chance for the underdog and winless Bucs to hit some big plays. That’s the only way I see the 0-6 “home” team getting anything going in this one. Tampa has some playmakers on offense, including Kellen Winslow, Cadillac, Antonio Bryant (last year anyway) and even the athletic Josh Johnson. Defensively Aqib Talib, Ronde Barber and others have shown the ability to make plays. The team has an interception returned for a score as well as a kickoff; that’s how they stayed in the game with the Panthers. Avoid those big plays and the Patriots should avoid finding themselves in an overly competitive match. Let’s face facts, the Bucs are a young, bad football team going through a dramatic overhaul from the front office down to the field. They’re 28th in total offense and 27th in total D. They are very much in the conversation for the worst team in football. Because they’re younger and playing for the future they’ll probably show better effort than the Titans a week ago, but they shouldn’t be able to compete for very long with the Patriots if New England can avoid big plays against.

3.  No. 3 – I really think the Patriots will run the football with some regularity, so the depth of the passing game may not be a huge issue. But it will be interesting to see who fills out the third receiver slot behind Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Julian Edelman was getting more comfortable by the week, but whoever fills the void will lack any real experience in the offense in game situations. New England’s passing game is complex and counts on everyone being on the same page but Tom Brady may have to show some patience in this one with some new weapons taking on greater roles. Maybe the backs will step up. Maybe Benjamin Watson will be inspired by Big Ben and step up. Who knows? Regardless, look for Laurence Maroney to have another nice day and for BenJarvus Green-Ellis to help him split the load against a Bucs run defense that’s pretty putrid, ranking 31st in the NFL.

4.  A.D. watch – What will Adalius Thomas’ status be for the game? Last time I saw him he was shopping in the jewelry section with some teammates at Harrod’s department store here in London. (By the way Harrod’s is absolutely the most ridiculous, overwhelming store I’ve ever been. If you ever go to London you have to see it!) Will he be active? My guess is yes. Will he start? My guess is yes? Will he look like a guy who’s had a fire lit beneath him? I don’t think anyone, not even Thomas, could predict that. I think for this defense to reach its ultimate heights this season Thomas needs to be a contributing figure. Hopefully he’ll take steps in that direction Sunday evening.

5.  Whistle your way to work – Apparently UK fans are allowed to bring whistles into Wembley and blow them during the game. To me, more than even the turf, those whistles could impact the action. What if a player stops play early due to a whistle from the stands? Or if the keeps playing through the official whistle thinking it came from the stands? That could be ugly. Hopefully it won’t be an issue, but it might be early on.

6.  Defensive evolution – Is the 3-4 front that we saw against Tennessee back to stay? The team did post a shutout and I’ll always believe that Bill Belichick prefers to be in a 3-4 if at all possible. It will be interesting to see the defenses evolve in the coming weeks through the returns of Jerod Mayo and Junior Seau, Thomas’ situation and as injuries pop up here and there. Darius Butler got his first start against the Titans but is now banged up. Does that mean Leigh Bodden bounces back from the surprise benching to get the start? This defense, on some levels, has more questions today than it did when the season started against the Bills. Personally I’d like to see more 3-4 fronts, more aggressive playcalling and more consistent play from the unit. I’ll also continue to call on Derrick Burgess to step up and make a play. Maybe it’s all a little too much to ask for, but hopefully it will take another step in the right direction this week against a Bucs offense that though pretty bad, does pose some problematic matchups at times.
Prediction
The Patriots finally proved they can score more than 30 points last week and hit the big plays that have been available at times on offense all season. That makes me feel a little bit more confident heading into this one to predict a blowout. So I’ll do just that. I’ll say the Patriots take the 38-10 victory in front of a very pro-New England crowd. This is a big, dream weekend for UK Patriots fans and I hope they get to see a great performance by their team. Tom Brady proved in the snow last week that he’s still the man capable of putting up ridiculous numbers. There may not be any snow, and the numbers may not be quite as ridiculous, but I expect No. 12 to put on a show for the entire world to see. He truly is developing into a global icon and this is another step in that direction. As I said above, the only way the Bucs can hang in this one is through big plays on both sides of the ball. I don’t see that happening. New England rolls in Old England