Redskins win ugly against Tampa Bay Buccaneers

TAMPA — The Washington Redskins bent. They didn’t break.

Despite allowing a season-high 501 yards, the Redskins came away with a 16-3 win on Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.

How, you might reasonably ask, did they manage that?

Four turnovers and two missed Tampa Bay kicks.

Tampa Bay outgained the Redskins by 215 yards, but Washington improved to 6-3 anyway.

The Buccaneers went an astonishing 0-5 in the red zone while the Redskins made plays when it mattered.

“Every time that we see them driving like that and they get down in the red zone, we just tell each other, ’Bow up,’” said rookie Greg Stroman, who grabbed his first career interception. “Bow up and keep playing. Most of the times we make plays down in there and that’s when we can make a lot of plays and try to turn the momentum when they get down in there like that.”

Teams that give up that kind of yardage rarely win — something the Redskins know firsthand after surrendering 491 yards in last week’s blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

But the Redskins won Sunday — and they’ll take it. The NFC East-leading Redskins needed a boost after learning earlier in the week that three offensive starters would be out for the year, making the path to playoffs suddenly a lot tougher.

“I told the team last night, if we win 6-3 or 50-49, I don’t care,” coach Jay Gruden said. “The whole idea is to win the game and right now, we’re winning ugly, but I don’t know if there is such a thing as winning ugly.”

Tampa Bay entered the afternoon with a league-worst -15 turnover differential and a league-high 17 interceptions. The Redskins understood the Buccaneers can move up and down the field but have been prone all season to turning the ball over.

That was true Sunday as well. On the very first possession, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick led Tampa Bay on a long drive only to throw an interception to cornerback Josh Norman on the goal line.

Later, Tampa Bay gained 73 yards on 13 plays but failed to score when Chandler Catanzaro shanked a 30-yard attempt. He missed another, a 48-yarder.

The Redskins had trouble early capitalizing on the Buccaneers’ mistakes.

Behind a makeshift offensive line, Washington struggled to move the ball. The Redskins were without three of their five Week 1 starters along the offensive line, missing Trent Williams, Shawn Lauvao and Brandon Scherff.

In their spots, the Redskins started Ty Nskehe, Tony Bergstrom and Jonathan Cooper, the latter of whom was signed last Monday.

At halftime, the Redskins had only 136 yards.

But that was good enough — and Washington went into the locker room with a 6-3 lead due to a pair of 43-yarders from Dustin Hopkins.

When the Redskins did move the ball, they did so on the arm of quarterback Alex Smith, who did enough, again, to secure a win, completing 70.1 percent of his passes for 178 yards.

Running back Adrian Peterson had a workmanlike day, with 68 yards on 19 carries.

With Peterson in check, Smith took shots downfield, with enough success to keep the Tampa Bay defense at bay. In the fourth quarter, the 34-year-old led the Redskins on an eight-play, 62-yard drive — capped off with a six-yard touchdown pass to wideout Josh Doctson.

“I do think we’re a tough team, a gritty team,” Smith said. “A team thus far in the season that has been in a lot of big games and big moments. I don’t think we shy from them. I think we embrace that role.”

On the possession after Doctson’s touchdown, Stroman picked off Fitzpatrick and the Redskins added another three points with Hopkins’ 26-yarder.

Stroman’s play was the start of a turnover-filled quarter for the Buccaneers that included two more fumbles, including on a play when linebacker Ryan Anderson punched out the ball out of from running back Jacquizz Rodgers’ grasp at the 28-yard line. The ball flew all the way to the end zone, where the Redskins recovered it for the touchback.

Fitzpatrick had 406 yards, but threw two interceptions.

“You can put up a thousand yards, we get the W, you get three points,” Norman said. “It really doesn’t matter. It goes down on the stat sheet, but the only stat that matters is the W. That’s all that matters.”