A week after a dud of a performance against Tennessee, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a chance to show what they could be capable of in 2012, as starters plan to play three quarters on Friday night against the Patriots.

If fans want to get a true sense of how the Bucs progress (or regress) against New England, they would be wise to ignore the scoreboard and instead pay attention to five key areas of play, according to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. It’s tough to argue with Cummings’ list, which includes offensive line play (a particular weakness in last week's 30-7 loss to the Titans), the team’s pass rush (only one hit on an opposing quarterback through two games), tackling, the play of Josh Freeman and that of the team’s secondary.

As far as individual players worth watching, there are plenty of big bodies among a list of five compiled by Stephen F. Holder of the Tampa Bay Times. It includes left tackle Donald Penn (in his first game back from a calf injury), tight end Luke Stocker (also fighting injury and needed as a blocker), linebacker Lavonte David (a rookie who will be tested by New England’s talented tight ends), right tackle Jeremy Trueblood (attempting to lock down a starting job) and defensive lineman Gerald McCoy (trying to aid the team’s pass rush).

  • YouTube taught Doug Martin how to run: During his early high school days, running back Doug Martin says he “didn’t know a thing about football” but decided he wanted to play. So where did he turn for lessons on how to be a great runner? Martin sat at his computer, watching YouTube clips of Barry Sanders, Walter Payton and Emmitt Smith, he told Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. “With Barry Sanders, you could see how low he ran to the ground and so I tried to always make sure I do that," Martin said. "And with Payton, he was just so physical the way he hit the hole. He always kind of hit them before they hit him, and I thought that was important. And with Emmitt Smith, well, he was like a jack of all trades, the complete back, and that's what I wanted to be." Apparently he has done well thus far in emulating that trio of NFL greats, becoming a star at Boise State and a first-round pick in April’s NFL draft.
  • Offensive line hopes to make a statement: The Bucs’ offensive line was supposed to be a position of relative strength this season, but it hardly looked like one during last week’s blowout loss to the Titans. The team will expect better Friday night against the Patriots, as left tackle Donald Penn returns to the lineup after missing training camp due to a calf injury. Starters will be playing three quarters, guard Carl Nicks told Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, so this game should give an indication of how the line is progressing.
  • Bucs racing the clock to get ready for season: Players can literally watch time speed by as they sit in the locker room of the team’s facility at One Buc Place, as coach Greg Schiano installed a running clock that ticks down to the tenth of a second until kickoff of the regular season-opener against Carolina on Sept. 9. “It feels more like a ticking bomb than an invigorating countdown to liftoff,” writes Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times.
  • Learning new offense isn’t necessarily the hard part: The Bucs should expect some growing pains in their first year of a new offensive system under Schiano. But learning the new scheme may not be the biggest challenge, writes Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. Instead, forgetting the old scheme may prove to be harder, as former Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson recalled changing systems during his career and just how different the terminology might be for a play that is essentially the same.

For more from Tampa Bay Bucs blogger Patrick Southern, follow @CBSSportsNFLTB on Twitter.