HONOLULU -- When Rich Gannon looked across the line of scrimmage, he saw some familiar faces from last Sunday in San Diego.

	Gannon

Tampa Bay defensive end Simeon Rice, linebacker Derrick Brooks and strong safety John Lynch, who all helped pressure the league's MVP a week ago, were hoping to ruin Gannon's afternoon for a second straight Sunday. But there was a big difference: This was not Super Bowl XXXVII, where all the Bucs stars were on hand for a 48-21 win over the Oakland Raiders.

Instead, it was yet another offensive exhibition by Gannon and the AFC squad.

Gannon, Pro Bowl player of the game the previous two years, nearly snagged a third award after leading his AFC team to a 45-20 romp over the NFC.

Gannon, who had two touchdown passes but a passer rating under 50 in the Super Bowl, was 12-of-18 passing for 102 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. His passer rating was 118.3.

"I know what to expect when I compete here with the NFL's best, and I think that has helped me do well," said Gannon, beat out by Dolphins running back Ricky Williams for player of the game honors.

Gannon had an 11-yard scoring pass to Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez in the first quarter and a 13-yarder to Buffalo's Travis Henry in the second as the AFC built a 21-3.

"We put a few great drives together and finished them off when we needed to," Gannon said. "Our defense did a great job of forcing turnovers."

Clearly, this was a more positive experience than what took place at Qualcomm Stadium one week earlier.

"Last week was disappointing for all of us, myself included," Gannon said. "We were disappointed, but not discouraged. We'll be back next year."

Fellow Bay area quarterback Jeff Garcia was the anti-Gannon on Sunday. The San Francisco signal-caller was just 4-of-12 passing for 36 yards with three interceptions.

And while most players treat the game for the exhibition that it is, Garcia didn't take his dismal outing lightly.

"I don't want to go out there and have a three-interception day in a quarter and a half," a dejected Garcia said. "I want to go out there and have success, do positive things, but unfortunately the ball got battered around a couple of times and I never got into any kind of flow."

James C. Black is the assistant NFL editor for ESPN.com.