Eight days ago, 42,000 and change showed up in Tampa to watch the Bucs lose late to the Panthers.
On Sunday, 84,000 and shillings showed up in London to watch the Bucs lose early to the Patriots.
So before anyone dismisses the league’s ongoing relationship-building in Britain, keep that fact in mind.
“Flashbulbs were going off before kickoff for 10 minutes, which you don’t see in the United States,” said Pats quarterback Tom Brady, dubbed by one London paper as the real golden balls. “It was a privilege to come over here. It will probably never happen again, so we’ll retire 1-0 internationally.”
Maybe he’ll retire 1-0 internationally, but the Patriots will be back. Along with every other team, eventually.
Amid widespread reports that the NFL will play two London games in 2009 and four by 2012, Peter King of NBC reported Sunday night that the league wants to send the same team over multiple years in order to build up a fan following for that franchise.
The Pats would be an ideal choice, but owner Bob Kraft would surely never give up a home game for it.
Though the Patriots could keep returning as the “road” team, the more likely outcome will be for a team that could be the franchise to move to London to begin playing there regularly.
And folks in London are likely praying that it won’t be the Buccaneers.
Sunday’s game was as ugly as expected, another one in which the point spread should have been much higher. For the Pats, visions of 2007 are returning, thanks to a combined outcome of 94-7 in their two games, albeit against winless teams. The challenge after the bye will come against the more competitive squads -- and they’ll get more than a few of them in November and December.
For the Bucs, the Josh Johnson experiment possibly has ended, now that coach Raheem Morris got permission to use Josh Freeman. It likely won’t make things much better, and a return match against the Panthers could be Tampa’s best chance of avoiding an 0-16 season of their own.
Fittingly, they’ll don the uniforms of the 1976 Bucs in their next game, at home on November 8 against the Packers.
The one sure thing is that 84,000 people won’t be in attendance.