Capital Offense Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 13 September 2004 Keep in mind that the Bucs' Super Bowl season started off with a loss. A close one, much like the 16-10 setback the Washington Redskins dealt them at FedEx Field on Sunday. And while you're at it, keep in mind that Tampa Bay's surprising 7-9 slide a year ago started with a shutout victory - at Philadelphia, no less. By the time the Bucs' fate is decided this season, Sunday's opening-day clunker may not fit the pattern, either. That's their hope, but if the Bucs are to keep results like this from becoming the norm they've got some work to do. ``We've obviously got a long way to go, especially on offense,'' Jon Gruden said. ``It was a tough day for us, no doubt about it. What we've got to do is find our rhythm and our identity on offense.'' Finding a rhythm figured to be a problem for these Bucs. After all, the full contingent of offensive starters didn't play a down together during the four- game preseason. But the defensive regulars never played a down together during the preseason, either, and that didn't stop them from playing well Sunday. With the exception of Clinton Portis' 64-yard touchdown run, the Bucs defense turned in an impressive outing. It included scoring the team's lone touchdown - on a fumble by quarterback Mark Brunell - and limiting the Redskins offense to just 146 yards in the final three quarters. ``If you take away that one big play, we played pretty well defensively,'' said cornerback Ronde Barber, who scooped up Brunell's fumble and carried it into the end zone from 9 yards out. ``Unfortunately, this game isn't played that way. All the plays count, so you can't afford to give up that big play because that's what this game came down to. They made a couple of big plays, and we didn't.'' They didn't offensively. And that is a concern because the inability to produce big plays and points was a problem during the preseason and shows no signs of going away. Not only did the Bucs offense fail to produce a touchdown, it wasn't until well into the second quarter Sunday that it produced a first down. The running game was almost nonexistent. Charlie Garner showed very little of the burst he said he'd recaptured during the offseason, rushing 11 times for 25 yards, while Mike Alstott ran four times for 5 yards. The passing attack struggled, too. After Barber's TD tied the score at 10 late in the third quarter, the Bucs seemed to have momentum. But the offense was unable to keep it. Two possessions later, Brad Johnson's second-and-6 pass from the Bucs' 41 was intercepted over the middle by Washington linebacker Antonio Pierce, who returned it to the Bucs' 39. The turnover set up the Redskins' decisive score, a 30-yard field goal by John Hall early in the fourth quarter. Johnson finished 24 of 37, but for only 169 yards and the interception. When you factor in the four sacks of Johnson for minus-30 yards, the Bucs gained just 169 total yards, the franchise's worst outing since Dec. 19, 1999, at Oakland (137 yards). ``We just got our butts kicked offensively,'' center John Wade said. ``We didn't execute. That's what happened. We knew what they were going to do and we prepared for it, but we didn't execute.'' What the Bucs expected were blitzes, and that's what they got. Gruden estimated the Redskins blitzed 40-50 times Sunday. That made throwing difficult - especially when Garner and Alstott failed to block their man, which happened at least twice - and it really made running difficult. ``You have got to deliver a play, somewhere, somehow, to try and get the defense out of the system that they're running,'' Gruden said. ``We didn't do that. We just didn't get enough done.'' The Bucs had some chances to force the Redskins out of their blitz packages. They got a pass off deep to an open Joey Galloway early in the second quarter, but Galloway failed to make the catch in the end zone, then came up lame with a groin strain. They also got a ball deep to rookie Michael Clayton, who caught a team-leading seven passes in his NFL debut, but on a third down midway through the second quarter, he too failed to secure the ball. Clayton should get plenty of other opportunities to make plays, especially with Galloway likely to miss at least a game or two. ``We just have to rally around the healthy bodies that we do have,'' Gruden said. ``We do have a heck of a defense, and overall I thought there were some things that we can build on. Michael Clayton, I thought, caught the ball inside pretty well and was pretty physical running with the ball after the catch. We were pleased with his beginning.'' The Bucs had to be pleased with Martin Gramatica's beginning, too. After missing four field-goal tries during the preseason, he hit on his only attempt, a 47-yarder. That stood as the offensive highlight of the day. And that's not the way the Bucs envisioned things going for them, not after revamping their offense during the offseason. They expected a lot more from the likes of Garner, Alstott and receiver Tim Brown, who said he believes Sunday's forgettable performance will prove to be an anomaly. ``We're not going to see all that blitzing every week,'' he said. ``I'd like to see Seattle [next week] jump into that. We'd have a field day with that. There's no way they can be as efficient. Of course, we thought we'd be a lot more efficient [Sunday], too. I mean, it's a good thing we had so much time to prepare for this game or we might have really looked bad.''