Buccaneers Let Big One Get Away

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in must-win mode to keep any realistic playoff hopes alive, kept turning great field position into field goals instead of touchdowns. It finally caught up with them in the fourth quarter.

A short punt and a fumbled kickoff led to 10 quick points in the waning minutes for the Washington Redskins, who again showed a resiliency missing in Norv Turner’s first 4 1/2 years as coach, as they took a 20-16 victory Saturday.

“We left a lot of points out there on the field,” Tampa Bay defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. “We had the game wrapped up. We gift-wrapped it and gave it right back to them.”

Tampa Bay (7-8), which had won three consecutive games to get back in the postseason chase, will be eliminated from playoff contention if the Arizona Cardinals defeat the New Orleans Saints and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the New York Giants today. The result also clinched postseason berths for the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers.

“We kind of self-destructed,” Tampa Bay Coach Tony Dungy said. “Everybody in there is disappointed. But we don’t have anyone to blame but ourselves. The thing we haven’t done is play good, solid, smart football all year. But we made mistakes today, and you can’t do that in a real big game.”

Trent Green bootlegged right and connected with rookie tight end Stephen Alexander for a 15-yard touchdown pass with 5:49 to play for the winning score, the second time in three weeks the Redskins have come from behind to win a game in the fourth quarter. It’s something they had not done in 76 previous games under Turner.

It was also the fourth consecutive victory and sixth in eight games for the Redskins (6-9), who became only the second team in NFL history to win six games in a season after starting 0-7. The 1978 Atlanta Falcons finished 6-10 after an 0-7 start.

“It shows the character of this team,” tackle Shar Pourdanesh said. “We don’t give up. We want to win. A lot of teams would have pulled it in by now, starting 0-7. We had the worst record at that time. But we stuck with it and we played for pride.”

The Buccaneers, 1-6 away from home this season, have not won on the road in December since a 7-3 victory over the Cardinals on Dec. 27, 1992. They have only four December road victories in franchise history, all in domes.

Tampa Bay appeared to have the game in hand with another solid effort by its defense--only 167 yards allowed until the 9:45 mark of the fourth quarter--although the Buccaneer lead was never comfortable because the offense converted two turnovers and a good punt return into three field goals and no touchdowns.

The game started to turn with the score 16-10 in the fourth quarter, when a bad punt by Tommy Barnhardt gave the Redskins the ball at their 42. Eight plays later, Cary Blanchard kicked a 35-yard field goal with 6:06 to play to make the score 16-13.

On the ensuing kickoff, Chris Thomas jarred the ball loose from Jacquez Green. Mike Sellars recovered, setting up Alexander’s winning catch.