WP Email: Bucs Familiar With Redskins' Offense

[MTK]

Of all the teams in the NFL to have to face Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs in his first game back from an 11-year football hiatus, Tampa Bay may be one of the best equipped to do so. The Buccaneers have several people who are very familiar with Gibbs's offense system and they have an astute head coach of their own, Jon Gruden, who has steeped himself in the history of Gibbs's attack as well.

Former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, who won a Super Bowl in Washington under Gibbs, is now an executive for the Buccaneers and he scouted all of Washington's preseason games looking for any tidbits that might help his team in the opener. ("Hopefully, he won't guess right," Gibbs said of Williams.)

The club's general manager, Bruce Allen, is the son of former Redskins coach George Allen, and Tampa Bay defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin has spent over 20 years in the NFL and has worked against Gibbs's offense firsthand ("He's the best," Washington assistant head coach-offense, Joe Bugel, said of Kiffin).

So there is no shortage of Redskins lore going around in Tampa, and Gruden bristled when asked repeated questions about Gibbs and that franchise during a conference call with the media.

"After a while you get tired of talking about the history of the Washington Redskins," Gruden said. "You'd better just concentrate on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because that's basically all we can control."

Gruden is notorious for studying film until all hours of the night, and he has unearthed some tapes of Gibbs's glory years leading up to this game. Gruden said he has shown some clips to his players to alert them to certain tendencies but is unsure how much will be replicated when the players get on the field this weekend.

"We showed them a little bit," Gruden said. "Fortunately, some of us nostalgia coaches here kept some of those tapes."

Gruden admitted that his team will face a difficult task Sunday given the excitement surrounding the return of Gibbs. The crowd will be pumped and a crowd of more than 90,000 people is expected at FedEx Field. However, Tampa Bay can draw some experience from last season, when it played the first game ever in Philadelphia's new stadium on a Monday night. Suffice to say, the atmosphere during the Buccaneers four preseason games was much more restrained.

"It's tough to simulate that kind of enthusiasm," Gruden said.

Players Say They're Tired



Several Redskins said they felt tired after a grueling training camp that included five preseason games and a particularly demanding set of practices this week, but expect to be fresh for Sunday's game. "This week they've worked harder than any team I've seen," assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams said. . . .

Tampa Bay defensive end Simeon Rice said he does not expect Gibbs's 11-year layoff from coaching to deter from Washington's effectiveness. "That doesn't matter," Rice said. "The guy has been a success in anything he's done from coaching football to car racing, NASCAR. So whatever he's done, it's kind of like his M.O. is success." . . .

Wide receiver James Thrash is now wearing No. 83.

-- Jason LaCanfora