Skins Blow Bucs Playoff Hopes

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in must-win mode to keep any realistic playoff hopes alive, kept turning great field position into 3s instead of 7s. 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 4½ 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 straight to get back in the postseason chase, will be eliminated from playoff contention if Arizona defeats New Orleans and Kansas City beats the Giants on Sunday. The result also clinched postseason berths for Dallas and Green Bay.

"We kind of self-destructed," Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy said. "Everybody in there is disappointed. But 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 and we made some today, and you can't do that in a real big game."

Trent Green bootlegged right and hit 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 Tuner.

It was also the fourth straight victory and sixth in eight games for the Redskins (6-9), who became only the second team in NFL history to win six 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 on the road this season, have not won an away game in December since a 7-3 victory over the Cardinals on Dec. 27, 1992. There have been only three other away victories in December in franchise history, all inside domed stadiums.

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 Bucs 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 it 16-13.

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

Green took the error in stride, saying it's something he sees "all the time," but Dungy said he might have replaced Green earlier if two other potential return men had been healthy.

"He's got to be better protecting the ball," Dungy said.

Receiver Leslie Shepard's lone run yielded a touchdown for Washington. (AP)

The Redskins' defense did the rest. Greg Jones intercepted Trent Dilfer's pass on the Bucs' next possession, and Dan Wilkinson's sack and an interception by Darrell Green thwarted Tampa Bay's last drive in the final two minutes.

Aided by three third-dwn Washington penalties, including a dicey pass interference call on Green, Tampa Bay took the opening kickoff 65 yards to take a 7-0 lead on Dilfer's 8-yard TD pass to tight end Dave Moore.

A 32-yard punt return by Brian Mitchell, the NFL's leader in combined net yards, set up a tying score by the Redskins, a 16-yard double-reverse by Leslie Shepherd led by strong downfield blocks by Rod Milstead and quarterback Green. Green's pass should have been intercepted the play before, but safety Charles Mincy stepped in front of cornerback Donnie Abraham in the end zone and bobbled the pass.

The rest of Tampa Bay's scoring came on field goals by Michael Husted -- all on drives that started in Washington territory.

"If you let a team that is hungry stay in it as long as we did," linebacker Jeff Gooch said. "They will end up biting you."

Notes