Buccaneers Go One for Two and Get a Win

With the ball on the one-yard line, Jon Gruden couldn’t resist.

The temptation to give it to Mike Alstott on a gutsy two-point conversion call -- even if it meant going home without a victory -- was too strong.

At least that way, the Tampa Bay coach said, he would have gone to sleep Sunday night knowing the Buccaneers gave it their best shot.

“It would have been tough not knowing what would have happened,” Gruden said after Alstott somehow found a way across the goal line to give the Buccaneers a stunning 36-35 victory over the Washington Redskins.

The run, with 58 seconds remaining, came after the Redskins had blocked a potential score-tying extra point -- but had jumped offsides in the process.

For a moment, Alstott didn’t even realize Gruden had decided to try to break a two-game losing streak in dramatic fashion.

“People were hollering for me. I ran on the field, put on my helmet, heard the call and thought: ‘Uh-oh, here we go,’ ” Alstott said.

“You have to put the trust in your team and the players and say, ‘The heck with it.’ You have to gamble once in a while.”

Everybody in the stadium knew who would get the ball, but the Redskins (5-4) could not stop the 248-pound fullback, who scored earlier on touchdown runs of two yards and one yard. Alstott was hit at the line and it looked as if he might fall short, but he twisted and kept his legs moving to barely get into the end zone.

The Redskins signaled that the conversion failed, but the ruling stood after the replay official’s review.

“Any time you lose, it’s tough. There are always 50 plays where you could have won and 50 plays where you could have lost,” Washington Coach Joe Gibbs said.

“All of our guys thought he was on the ground. That’s what everybody told me. I didn’t see it, but that’s what instant replay is for.”