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FOXBORO - The Patriots played five teams without a loss on their schedule to start this season, and have now gone in the opposite direction.

Their last two opponents have been 0-5 and 0-6 respectively at the time of their meetings, and the latest has taken the game halfway across the globe in hopes no one will notice.

Fat chance of that, as the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the 4-2 Patriots are playing today (1 p.m. ET, Ch. 4, 12) under the spotlight of the NFL International Series of games. More than 80,000 curious Britons (and a smattering of Americans who journeyed across the pond to watch) and maybe about 40 percent of the 1 p.m. TV audience stateside will be anxious to see if Tom Brady and his mates will show mercy under the Wembley Stadium arch to a Buccaneer team that even Bill Belichick couldn't embellish enough to be believable as a threat.

"They're a new team," Belichick said, alluding to the relative youth of the Buccaneers. "They run well. They tackle well. (Defensive coordinator) Jim Bates, I've known Jim for a long time, we worked together in Cleveland. He's an excellent defensive football coach. He's got them hustling around like he always does; they're playing with a lot of energy. They have good team speed and their linebackers are very active."

OK, right. And they haven't been able to get out of their own way for six weeks, lending a lot of credence to the notion that they can stop a team that threw 59 points on the board in the midst of a freak snowstorm last week. Unless someone poisons the Patriots' fish and chips before today's game, it's hard to imagine an outcome much different.

The mastermind of this pewter-clad disaster is Raheem Morris, the coach that replaced Jon Gruden, who won one Super Bowl for a ownership family that seems to have a greater interest in its overseas soccer holdings than its bread-and-butter football team.

Morris parroted a few Belichickisms in a conference call with the New England media on Wednesday, including the already shopworn cliche that establishes a five-hour flight to London as a business trip.

"It's very easily recognized as a business trip when you're going to play a team that just won 59-0," Morris said. "There's nothing really unique about it for us. The only thing unique about it is making a game international, but we've got to go over there and try to get our first win against a very good football team, a very well-coached football team, and we're excited for the opportunity."

That would appear to be risky business for the Bucs, who have been outgained 2,221 yards to 1,666; have given up 1,030 rushing yards to just 597 of their own; have surrendered nine sacks and made just two; and whose two top receivers (Kellen Winslow, Cadillac Williams) aren't receivers.

"Well, we're getting better," Morris said Wednesday, no indications given if it was with a straight face. "We've got to grow around here fast. We've been outplayed. Teams have been more physical, more violent.

"We've got to pick up some of those things," he added. "We've got to start doing some of those things if we want to win some football games. We've got to learn how to finish. We've got to learn how to keep our consistency throughout the game, and until we do those things, we won't get a win. Hopefully we can start doing them this week and we can start trying to win some football games here."

On top of all that, Morris knows that as a rookie head coach, he's going up against the accepted master of the profession. He's already figured out that the things he saw from the Patriots in their 59-0 trouncing of Tennessee (still considered a far better team than an 0-6 record would indicate) are not what he might see today.

"New England's game plan changes from week to week, with the mastermind in Coach Belichick," Morris said. "He's going to do what he does well. He's going to do what you can't defend. He's going to do all those types of things, and we all know that.

"You could see a completely different ball game than what you had last week when they scored 59 points," he said. "They're going to come out and try to do what they can do well and what they feel they need to do to win. That will change each week, so you'd better not spend too much time leaning on what other people think, and just prepare your fundamentals and be ready to deal with adjustments and make adjustment and be ready to deal with whatever you get in front of this type of offense or defense, to be exact." In his press conference at the Brit Oval Cricket Grounds early Friday, Belichick said the Patriots didn't have the luxury of feeling too good about themselves because they won a game 59-0 over one winless team and are now facing another.

"Last week was one of those games where a lot of things went right for us," he said. "It's very unusual to have a game like that. I'll be lucky if I see one of those in my entire career. Last week was last week, this week is Tampa.

"Tampa is a very explosive football team," he said. "They're very dangerous in every phase of the game. They get a lot of turnovers on defense. They're an explosive return team ... good coverage team on special teams. Offensively, they have a good set of backs, a couple of outstanding tight ends, a very mobile quarterback, good receivers and a good offensive line.

"So we don't really care about last week any more," he concluded. "We're on to trying to defend and move the ball against Tampa and handle their kicking game, so that's our challenge this week."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.