Tampa Bay Buccaneers

For a hard-fought win by the Redskins, how good was this team? On kickoff returns, they were obviously pretty good. On defense, despite the loss of Warren Sapp and Lynch, the Bucs still looked solid. They clamped down on the Redskins pretty well after that opening TD by Portis for less than 300 yards total.

The Bucs offense was the big question mark. It's harder to judge the 169 yards as a factor of more of Gregg Williams' aggressive defense or the Buc O's ineptness. Any proud player always puts more onus on himself or his teammates not executing rather than giving praise to his opponent. However, in this case, it was indeed Williams' defense that outcalled and outplayed the men on the other side of the line. A lack of execution brings to mind overthrown balls, dropped passes, fumbles, penalties, missed blocks, and other mistakes. The Bucs had a TD that slipped through Galloway's fingers. Other than that, though, the sacks were a function of well-planned blitzes. The fumble was forced. The interception was due to great pressure. The Bucs were outplayed.

Then the question is, how will the Bucs play against future opponents? Against the Redskins, Alstott and Garner couldn't get any rushing room. Michael Clayton was making some nice catches against the Redskins zones but Tim Brown and Bill Shroeder were inconsequential. The Bucs offense isn't overly talented compared to the rest of the NFL. Any success on their part would be due entirely to Gruden's playcalling.

Fortunately for the Redskins, they have two of the best playcallers in Joe Gibbs and Gregg Williams.