Beat down The Tampa Tribune, published 18 December 2005 In the Tampa Bay locker room after the 28-0 loss, CB Juran Bolden was still beating himself up for letting the Pats offense beat up on him. He was upset with his overall performance, but especially the potential interception he dropped on the Patriots' first play in the second quarter. "I'm going to take myself out back and put one in me," Bolden said. "That's all I've been asking for all year, the opportunities to make plays and the defense put me in position to make plays and that's the play I'm supposed to make. I look at making that [interception], maybe that's the turning point for us to get some momentum and I didn't make the play. A couple of times I thought I had a chance to make some plays and I didn't make them." In addition to the dropped pick, Bolden was beat several times in coverage and was penalized for an illegal block above the waist on a punt in the second quarter. "Anytime you feel like you don't play well, you want to go out and bust your behind the next game," Bolden said. "That's what I want to do and that's what we want to do. We want to hurry up and put this behind us and see what we can make happen." Penalties Put Bucs Into Bad Situations New England P Josh Miller's performance was all leg, he claimed. The league's leading punter said he didn't need to resort to acting Saturday when a Tampa Bay player ran into him in the first half of the Patriots' 28-0 victory. The Bucs defense had stopped the Patriots on their third possession of the second quarter, forcing them to punt. While trying to block the punt, LB Ryan Nece fell into Miller, who flopped onto the ground in a backward somersault. Nece was penalized for roughing the kicker, giving the Patriots a first-and-10 at the Bucs' 38-yard line. "I didn't have to do anything really," Miller said. "You don't need acting in there. You stay down, look around and see if there is a flag. You walk to the sideline and see the offense come back out and know that is a good thing." It turned into a very good thing for the Patriots, who took six plays after the penalty, including a 17-yard pass play on third-and-16, to get into the end zone again for a 14-0 lead. "It was big," Jon Gruden said of the roughing penalty. "It was a 7-0 game at that time. I thought the third-and-16 conversion after the roughing-the-punter penalty was big also. Those were two big gains in the first half." Another penalty negated what would have been the Bucs' only points of the game. PR Mark Jones returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown midway through the third quarter, but it was nullified by a holding penalty against Tampa Bay DB Kalvin Pearson. Overall, the Bucs were penalized eight times for 58 yards. Time to come home It's been almost a month since Tampa Bay played at Raymond James Stadium. Having completed a rare three-game road trip, the Bucs are looking forward to coming home. Entering Saturday's game, the Bucs had the third-best road record in the league (5-2), behind Indianapolis (7-0) and Cincinnati (5-1), which is quite an improvement from their road record the previous two seasons - 5-11. Had they won Saturday, the Bucs would have become only the third team in the past 10 years to sweep a three-game road trip. Jacksonville has done it twice, in 2001 and this season, and Green Bay accomplished the feat in 1997. Injury report Chris Simms grabbed his left thumb following an incomplete pass to Michael Pittman during the Bucs' final possession of the first half. Simms said he jammed his thumb, but will be OK. Anthony Becht injured his left ankle in the first half, but returned later in the game. Buc notes Simeon Rice got the only sack for Tampa Bay, giving him 10 for the season. It's the eighth time, and fifth consecutive season Rice has collected at least 10 sacks, which ties him for fifth-most in NFL history. Saturday's shutout was the first time since the 1999 season Tampa Bay failed to put points on the scoreboard. That year, the Bucs were defeated 45-0 by the Gruden-coached Oakland Raiders. Mike Alstott moved into fifth place in franchise history with his 280th career reception. His two grabs against New England gave him 280 on his career and moved him past former TE Jimmie Giles (279) into fifth place. Alstott is also within striking distance of fourth place, which is currently held by former WR Kevin House, with 286. Alstott already ranks first on the Bucs’ all-time touchdown list and second on the career rushing chart. Ellis Wyms made his first career start Saturday, in place of DT Anthony McFarland, who was inactive for the first time this season with a hamstring strain. Josh Bidwell’s streak of 14 consecutive games with at least one punt of 50 or more yards came to an end Sunday…barely. Bidwell’s first and last punts of the day both went for 49 yards.