Redskins vs. Buccaneers
In this week’s edition of Redskins Rewind we’ll take a look at the history between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Washington Redskins. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL in 1976, led by head coach John McKay. McKay had made quite a name for himself back as head coach of USC where he won four national championships in sixteen years. And more importantly, he helped mentor a young offensive coach by the name of Joe Gibbs.
In 1977, the Redskins and Bucs met for the first time in history. They say that one of the biggest problems when playing a clearly inferior team is the danger of playing down to your opponent. This is what happened to the Redskins on October 9, 1977. In a game riddled with turnovers and penalties the Redskins were able to muster up 10 points early in the game. Lucky for them, Tampa Bay had no offense whatsoever and 10 points was enough to shut the Bucs out 10-0. In an effort to bolster the team’s offense the following season the Bucs and McKay would bring in Gibbs to be the offensive coordinator and Doug Williams to be their QB.
Washington would play the Bucs again in week two of the 1982 season. With the rain pouring down in Tampa the passing game would be a challenge for the Redskins. So they unveiled a new weapon…The Riggo Drill. John Riggins tied a then team record with 34 carries and piled up 136 yards to help set up three Mark Moseley field goals and a Charlie Brown touchdown. The last field goal came with just four minutes left to play after the Redskins took over nine minutes off the clock, much of it thanks to the Riggo Drill. The Redskins went home with a 21-13 victory and would get the next nine weeks off thanks to a players strike.
The Redskins and Buccaneers would not meet again until 1989, when Washington hosted the Bucs for the first time ever. Tampa took the early 7-0 lead thanks to a blocked punt and touchdown by Ricky Reynolds. The second quarter (and the start of the third) was a different story as Mark Rypien and the Redskins did their best impression of Super Bowl XXII racking up 29 points in a row; including two touchdowns from Rypien to Clark. Now you want to talk about run defense, how about this stat-the Redskins held the Bucs to just one yard-ONE YARD-rushing the entire game. But still, they couldn’t stop Vinny Testaverde and his aerial attack. Vinny’s three touchdown passes in the second half made the game close, but the Skins squeaked by with a 32-28 win.
15 years later, Joe Gibbs returned to the sidelines as an NFL coach. And his first opponent would be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Without the benefit of the Riggo Drill, Gibbs turned to a new weapon….Jerome from Southeast. Jerome, aka Clinton Portis, took his first carry with the Redskins 64 yards for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead. The defense easily handled the Bucs’ offense as Washington registered its 500th win in franchise history with a 16-10 win and the Gibbs 2.0 era officially began.