Progress on defense tarnished by defeat Anwar Richardson, The Tampa Tribune, published 5 October 2009 There were many reasons for members of the Bucs defense to be happy despite a 16-13 loss against Washington. Of course, none of those bright moments interested them. Gaines Adams had been consistently criticized by Raheem Morris and was almost benched last week. Despite having one sack and a fumble recovery against Washington, Adams couldn't care less about his breakout performance. "As a football player, you don't want to take any positives when you lose the game," Adams said. "That is just how it is. We lost. It doesn't matter if I had a sack or five sacks. It doesn't matter. We lost." Try getting Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib to talk about his three interceptions, which tied the team's single-game record set twice by Ronde Barber, and he will shut you down. "Three interceptions. One interception. No interceptions ... it's frustrating as hell," Talib said. Tampa Bay's latest loss - its fourth this season and eighth straight dating to last year - overshadowed the defensive victory made on the field. The Bucs' defense was ranked 31st in the league before facing Washington, giving up an average of 432 yards a game. Tampa Bay's difficulties were attributed to having six new starters on defense, a new scheme and unproven talent on that side of the ball. Yet, Tampa Bay showed improvement, limiting Washington to 277 yards - 125 rushing, 152 passing - causing four turnovers and recording three sacks. "You can say that it's better, but when you lose a game, it doesn't really matter," Morris said. "That's not the point. We're trying to win football games. We're out there to win football games. They played better. We don't feel any better about the results, and that's what matters." One result Tampa Bay hoped to eliminate was its trend of giving up big plays. The Bucs had allowed five passing touchdowns of 30 yards or more in three games, and although they eliminated most big plays against Washington, Redskins receiver Santana Moss found a way to hurt Tampa Bay. Moss ran a stutter-go pattern in the third quarter, which helped him slip past Talib, who turned the wrong way. Moss scored on a 59-yard reception, giving Washington a 16-10 advantage. "Santana seems to get everybody with those types of moves and those types of big plays," Morris said. "Those are the ones that hurt. Aqib Talib had one heck of a day, but he had one bad play. And I bet you he'd give the other three back for that one." Tampa Bay's defense might also give up anything to play better, even though it had plenty of reasons to be happy. "I'm not happy at all," Barrett Ruud said. "There is a high standard here and 16 points losing isn't good enough. If the offense only scored 13, we need to hold them to 10. I'm not happy right now. We have a lot of guys who love football and want to get better. We are about improving in each game. No doubt, it's frustrating. We got a big hole at 0-4."