Long-Awaited Ground Opening Katherine Smith, The Tampa Tribune, published 20 November 2006 Cadillac Williams bounded back to the Bucs huddle after breaking off a 25-yard run midway through the fourth quarter with news he couldn't wait to share with his teammates. "It's about time I got 100," Williams said. That carry, his longest of the day and third longest of the season, put the second-year running back past the 100-yard mark for only the second time this year. It had been six weeks since Williams rushed for more than 100 yards; the only other occasion this season was Oct. 8 against New Orleans when he had 111. "I definitely want the Buccaneers to call my number because, as a back, I just know they have to run me," said Williams, who finished with 122 yards on 27 carries. "When you continue to run me, [the opponent] is going to get tired and I'm going to make a play." Those blocking for Williams and the other Bucs runners noticed a different look to the Redskins defense as the game wore on. "You could see it in their eyes," said tight end Dave Moore, who had some key blocks. "[It made us] want to run it again and pound them to death. Once we started picking up clips at a time, you could see they really didn't have an answer for us." Washington's defense entered Sunday's game ranked 17th in the league against the run, limiting opponents to 114.6 yards per game. The Bucs easily surpassed that with 181, which included 28 yards from fullback Mike Alstott and 17 from backup running back Michael Pittman Alstott had gone four consecutive games without a carry before he got two against Carolina on Monday night. The six-time Pro Bowler got the ball early, including three consecutive carries during the Bucs' first scoring drive. He finished with six rushes for 28 yards, which is more than he produced in the first nine games combined (10 carries for 20 yards). In the first half, Williams ran for 46 yards - more than his total for each of the previous three games. His 122 rushing yards were more than his past three games combined. Williams expressed frustration during the week about his lack of production. Coaches noticed him pressing in an effort to get things going. Jon Gruden spoke with Williams about his frustrations and assured him he wasn't the only one on the team experiencing some level of frustration. "Right now, I think he is one of the few guys we have that defenses are keying on a little bit and it is not as easy as maybe you'd think it is," Gruden said. "He's just got to be mentally tough and understand that 2 and 3 yards is a gain. It keeps us in normal situations and if we can stay in the football game and ultimately get a lead like we got [Sunday], you're going to see a lot more carries." Williams' 27 carries were the most this season and improved the Bucs to 9-0 when he carries the ball 21 or more times. Tampa Bay also improved to 7-1 when he rushes for 100 or more yards. The Bucs rushed the ball 42 times Sunday, well above their previous game high of 33 against New Orleans on Oct. 8. The running game also helped Tampa Bay control the clock, as the Bucs won the time of possession battle 36:01-23:59. Circumstances in previous games had dictated more passing plays, but Sunday the commitment to the running game was obvious and it paid off with the ultimate result. "It's nice to see we stuck with it [Sunday]," Moore said. "And we were able to get this win."