Bucs, 'Skins begin quest

TAMPA, Fla. - Jon Gruden rejects the notion that his surprising Tampa Bay Buccaneers have already had a successful season.

"We don't want to have that loser's mentality about, 'Gee, we overachieved in some people's eyes,' or 'Hey, we've had a good year.' Baloney," Gruden said. "You're not playing in this organization for any other reason than to compete for championships and we want to make the most of our opportunities."

Thanks in no small part to an infusion of young talent on offense, the Bucs (11-5) went from 5-11 in 2004 to winning the NFC South title this season. They will end a two-year hiatus from the playoffs when they play host to Washington (10-6) today in the NFC wild-card round.

The game also marks the Redskins' postseason return under Joe Gibbs, the three-time Super Bowl winner who came out of retirement two years ago to resuscitate a team that made the playoffs once during his 11 seasons away from the NFL.

This year, the NFC is generally regarded as a wide-open bracket.

"I think every year there are dark horses that jump onto the scene. It's just fact," Gruden said.

"I don't really think that anybody thought New England, in their first Super Bowl season, was going to go from 5-11 to 11-5 and win the Super Bowl with a backup quarterback. I don't think anybody thought we were going to do it either. There are some interesting teams in the field."

With Gibbs at the helm, Washington is one of them.

The Redskins rebounded from a three-game losing streak that included a 36-35 loss at Tampa Bay on Nov. 13, to win five in a row down the stretch and make the playoffs for the first time since Washington lost 14-13 to the Bucs in a divisional-round game in 1999.

"Our backs have been against the wall for a long time, which isn't the case for a lot of playoff teams," Redskins offensive tackle Jon Jansen said. "We're comfortable with that situation, so I think going into the playoffs maybe we have a slight advantage in that regard."

"They have not been playoff games, but we realized if we lose, we're done," quarterback Mark Brunell said. "Any of those five games, if they're a loss, we're on the plane right now or sitting on our couch doing something else."

Gibbs was 16-5 in the playoffs during a 12-year run with the Redskins from 1981-92.

Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl three seasons ago, then fell on hard times the past two years. That's made the team's turnaround, with third-year quarterback Chris Simms running an offense built around rookie running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams that much sweeter for Gruden, who's also impressed with the job Gibbs has done in getting the Redskins back on track.

The Bucs coach said he and others have benefited greatly from ideas taken from the Hall of Famer.

"A lot of us have stolen from him," Gruden said.

One of the keys for Tampa Bay will be containing Clinton Portis, who rushed for 144 yards in the mid-season meeting.

Washington is equally concerned about not letting Williams have a big day on the ground for the Bucs.