NFL teams
TB

10

0-1
Final
WSH

16

1-0
RecapBox Score
1 2 3 4 T
TB 0 3 7 0 10
WSH 7 3 0 6 16
20y

Defense stands firm in fourth quarter

Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) -- The emotions were churning on the eve of
Joe Gibbs' first opener in 12 years, for both the coach and his
family.

"Good gosh! I don't know when I've ever wanted one like this,"
Gibbs recalled his wife as saying.

Pat Gibbs must have been a nervous wreck in the fourth quarter,
when the score was still tied. An interception by Antonio Pierce
turned the momentum, however, and the Washington Redskins beat the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16-10 Sunday to welcome the Hall of Fame coach
back to the NFL.

Allen's Analysis
Eric Allen

Will Clinton Portis (148 yards, 1 TD) be able to carry this offense?

Portis did a great job of announcing he can carry this team with a 64-yard TD on his first carry. He definitely has the ability to carry a team, but this team's success won't be all his doing. The Redskins look like they are handling coach Gibbs' system very well.

Portis is a special talent and Gibbs recognizes that and is making sure the offense is built around him. This team will try to protect the quarterback with a lot of max protect schemes so that he isn't forced into making any mistakes that take the ball out of Portis' hands.

Eric Allen played cornerback for 14 NFL seasons with the Eagles, Saints and Raiders. He's a regular contributor to Insider.

"It was huge for me, I can tell you that," said Gibbs, who got
his 125th regular season victory and 141st overall. "And I think
it was for our players, too. ... As a family and everything else,
for us it's a big deal. I told my players that I hope now the
attention can go on them."

Gibbs pointed to the crowd and gave a thumbs-up sign before
heading into the tunnel after the final whistle in a game in which
his offense reached the end zone just once: on a 64-yard run by
Clinton Portis on his first carry with the Redskins. Otherwise, the
game was decided by an aggressive game plan from assistant coach
Gregg Williams, to whom Gibbs has given complete control of the
defense.

The Redskins held the Bucs without an offensive touchdown for
the game and without a first down until midway through the second
quarter. Two of Washington's three field goals were set up by
turnovers.

"I can't take any credit for that," Gibbs said. "All I do is
walk down there and scream, 'Stop 'em.' "

Tampa Bay finished with 169 total yards, including just 30
rushing. "They did a great job with their coverages and different
blitz schemes," said Tampa Bay quarterback Brad Johnson, who was
sacked four times. "We've got a lot of work in front of us."

The Bucs also lost Joey Galloway to a groin strain in the second
quarter. Coach Jon Gruden would only say that Galloway is out
"indefinitely."

Gibbs led the Redskins to three Super Bowl titles in his first
stint with the team from 1981-92, and it appeared the old magic was
still there when his team dominated the first half. But
Washington's offense began to sputter, and it took John Hall's
30-yard field goal with 8:55 to break a 10-10 tie. Hall added a
34-yard field goal with 16 seconds to play.

Portis finished with 148 yards, and his touchdown was a thing of
beauty from Gibbs' bag of tricks: A counter play that suckered the
Buccaneers defense the wrong way. Portis took one step to the left,
then headed for daylight to the right and was never touched.

The defense did the rest, motivated by the desire to outperform
Tampa Bay's strong defense. Blitzing safety Matt Bowen stripped
Johnson of the ball to set up a field goal in the second quarter,
and Pierce's interception led to the go-ahead field goal. Tampa
Bay's last realistic chance to win was thwarted by back-to-back
sacks, the first one by Renaldo Wynn and Ron Warner, and the second
one by Bowen.

"When you play against a good defense, you want to be that good
defense," said Bowen, who got his first two career sacks. "It
makes you play hard, it makes you want to make the plays. You want
to be the defense everyone's talking about."

Tampa Bay's first score came without a first down, a 47-yard
field goal by Martin Gramatica in the second quarter set up by
Frank Murphy's 54-yard kickoff return. The Bucs tied the game at 10
on Ronde Barber's 9-yard fumble return in the third quarter, the
result of a botched handoff by Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell.

In all, the Bucs found that another good performance by their
defense wasn't matched by their offense.

"That's Buc ball," Barber said. "We won a Super Bowl that
way. We've been to the playoffs a lot that way. We can't get
frustrated with ourselves. It's easy to, and it's easy to have
doubts, and start pointing fingers, but it's the first game of the
year."

Game notes
The victory was the 500th in the 73-year history of the
Redskins franchise. Only Chicago (641), Green Bay (602) and the New
York Giants (571) have more. ... Brunell became the 16th
quarterback to start for Washington in the last 12 seasons. ...
Attendance was 90,098 in the newly expanded stadium, but it didn't
match the 91,665 at the USC-Virginia Tech game on Aug. 28. ...
Pierce started because Mike Barrow was inactive with a knee injury.
... Barber has seven career TDs, including six on defense.

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