The Bucs won the toss in overtime. Because of the 30-mph wind conditions, coach Ray Perkins elected to kick with the wind instead of the usual procedure of electing to receive. He never got the ball back as New England drove 56 yards in three minutes to win it on Jason Staurovsky's 27-yard fieldgoal. "Given the same circumstances, I would make the same decision 100 times out of 100" said the unrepentant coach who was pillored in the press afterwards.

GAME SCORING NE 7:36-1Q Perryman 6 run (Staurovsky kick) TB 2:19-4Q Carrier 15 pass from Testaverde (Carney kick) NE 3:08-OT Staurovsky FG27

STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Gruber DE 79 Davis LG 68 Mallory DT 95 Jarvis C 60 Grimes DE 94 Goff RG 50 Turk LOLB 59 Murphy RT 72 Taylor LILB 99 Marve TE 82 Hall RILB 54 Randle WR 47 Smith ROLB 58 Moss WR 88 Carrier LCB 29 Reynolds FB 43 Howard RCB 36 Futrell RB 27 Goode SS 30 Robinson QB 14 Testaverde FS 39 Hamilton PLAYED 4 Carney, 13 Criswell, 20 Harris. 22 R Jones, 35 J Smith, 40 Elder, 51 Washington, 52 V Jones, 53 Coleman, 55 Rolling, 56 Walker, 64 Thomas, 69 Bruhin, 71 Cooper, 73 McHale, 78 Cannon, 80 Pillow, 85 Parks, 89 Richardson, 97 Lee DID NOT PLAY 12 Ferguson, 34 Tate, 75 Kellin INACTIVE 21 Wright, 84 Hill

GAME REPORTS Click here for the gamebook and play-by-play How Michelle Kaufman of the St.Petersburg Times saw the game Click here for Tom Zucco's morning-after column The Bucs have won the toss …. and are going to kick the ball away?

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Howard 23-101, Goode 12-30, Testaverde 1-0. PATRIOTS: Perryman 17-47, Eason 3-14, Stephens 12-10, Tatupu 1-5. PASSING BUCS: Testaverde 19-10-145-1-1. PATRIOTS: Eason 27-16-155-2-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Carrier 4-90, Hall 2-24, Pillow 2-24, D.Smith 1-6, Howard 1-1. PATRIOTS: Fryar 3-59, Dupard 3-21, Perryman 3-17, Francis 3-16, Stephens 2-13, Morgan 1-18, Jones 1-11. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Hamilton 1-6, Reynolds 1-0. PATRIOTS: James 1-1. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Elder 1-13. PATRIOTS: Martin 1-34, Davis 1-19. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Futrell 1-3, Elder 1-0. PATRIOTS: Fryar 5-48. SACKS BUCS: Goff 1-8. PATRIOTS: Williams 2-14.

GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Harry Hamilton had another interception Ricky Reynolds got one of his own after Tony Eason threw the ball up Mark Carrier brought the Bucs level with this fourth quarter touchdown