Bucs' defense becomes stingy in second half
Ira Kaufman, The Tampa Tribune, published 13 December 2010

For 30 excruciating minutes Sunday, the Washington Redskins pushed the Buccaneers' defense all over rain-soaked FedEx Field.

Ryan Torain, who had missed the previous four games with a hamstring injury, ran for 158 yards before halftime, burning the Bucs continually on cutbacks that capitalized on Washington's zone-blocking scheme and poor angles by Tampa Bay defenders. "It was ugly,'' Bucs defensive tackle Roy Miller said. "It was humiliating.''

And then, just like that, it was over. Another stingy second-half defensive effort keyed Tampa Bay's 17-16 triumph as the error-prone Redskins rushed for only 14 yards after intermission.

"There's no doubt that was a very frustrating first half,'' said linebacker Geno Hayes, who posted his first sack of the season with a fourth-quarter takedown of Donovan McNabb. "It was unacceptable, but once again, we found a way to shut a team down in the second half.''

Tampa Bay's hopes of pitching a sixth second-half shutout this year were ruined when the Redskins drove 75 yards in 13 plays, capped by McNabb's 6-yard scoring pass to Santana Moss, who beat safety Sean Jones across the middle with only nine seconds remaining.

"It was very upsetting they got into the end zone against us, but then we got lucky they botched the extra point,'' middle linebacker Barrett Ruud said. "It wasn't pretty by any means, but hey, it's a win and we'll take it.''

After holding their last three opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground, the Bucs had no answers for Torain in a steady rain. He wasted no time setting the tone with a 54-yard burst off left tackle on Washington's first snap. There was plenty more to come.

A 16-yard dash by Baltimore's Ray Rice had marked the only time in the previous three weeks that the Bucs allowed a run longer than 11 yards by any back. Sunday, Torain reeled off seven carries of at least 12 yards, finishing with 172 yards.

"The question isn't what was going on in the first half — it's what was not going on,'' defensive end Stylez G. White said. "We were playing some bad ball out there on defense … missed tackles, people not playing their gaps. It wasn't our coach's fault — the Redskins were running the same plays we practiced against all week. We just had to man up, and we did.''

Washington couldn't get much going after intermission, gaining 15 yards in the third quarter and punting on each of their first four second-half possessions. But on the game's final drive, McNabb converted twice on third-down passes before finding Moss on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line.

"We wanted to stop them at the end, we needed to stop them, but we didn't,'' Ruud said. "The first half was bad, but we rebounded. Against a zone blocking scheme, all it takes is for one guy to be out of his gap on defense and there's a gash. In the first half, there certainly were a lot of creases for them to take advantage of.''