Patriots blank Bucs to clinch playoff spot

New England's Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- The gray division championship T-shirt hung in the locker behind Tedy Bruschi. The Patriots linebacker preferred to look ahead.
"I just don't want one T-shirt," he said. "I want two more."
Getting conference and Super Bowl championship shirts seems possible after New England dominated one of its toughest opponents of the season, beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28-0 Saturday.
Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes in his 85th consecutive start despite being listed as questionable with a left shin injury. The defense sacked Chris Simms seven times and held its third straight opponent under 200 yards.
And the Patriots (9-5) clinched the AFC East title for the fourth time in five seasons.
"It's huge for us. We haven't really played a good game against a good opponent with a good record," tight end Christian Fauria said. "We needed to keep winning and trying to get better in December."
Winter dominance
After Dec. 1, the Patriots are 3-0 this season and 18-3 in the regular season since 2001.
But in their previous three wins this year, they beat the lowly New Orleans Saints, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. Their other two wins this season against above-.500 teams came on last-minute field goals.
The Bucs came in as a hot team with four wins in five games. But they dropped to 9-5, a half-game behind Carolina (9-4), which leads the NFC South before today's game at New Orleans.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champions -- healthier after being hit hard by injuries --don't have to worry about their division in the remaining regular season games against the Jets and Miami.
"Until someone beats them in the playoffs, they're the best team in the NFL," Simms said.
New England got its first shutout in 36 games, while Tampa Bay was blanked for the first time in 103 games since a 45-0 loss at Oakland on Dec. 19, 1999.
"They have the best quarterback in the league," Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "They have a great coach. They have a physical-laden team. They're a handful."