Smash-Mouth Football Makes Gibbs Smile

Redskins running back Clinton Portis earned kudos from Joe Bugel. "He showed me he has a Riggo mentality," Bugel said. (Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)

"I don't know when we've fought any harder," Gibbs said, as though his last game was last season rather than 11 years ago. "Everything felt like it was falling apart. . . . Then the guys stepped up. . . . It was huge for me. . . . Personally, it was a big deal."

For weeks, as Portis barely carried the ball in preseason games, saving his body, Bugel and the star running back teased each other. "You're going to love me in the regular season," Portis would tell Bugel. "Well, I'm trying to love you now," Bugel would answer. After watching Portis gain 148 yards on 29 carries and catch four passes, Bugel had his answer.

"He showed me he has a Riggo mentality. He's a tenacious inside runner," Bugel said. "I kissed him on the cheek [after the game] and said, 'You convinced me. I love you.' "

Gibbs's idea of heaven is a blue-ribbon defense, like those fielded by Richie Petitbon, complemented by stingy special teams, a mistake-free quarterback and a punishing running back working behind a huge offensive line. The current Redskins, after just one win, are still far from that ideal, though they're much improved from Steve Spurrier's amateur hour.

For example, last year's Redskins had 124 penalties (including 17 in one game), as well as 43 sacks and 28 turnovers -- a total of 195 conspicuous screw-ups or an average of a dozen a game. Those infamous mistakes, especially of the mental variety, were the centerpiece of six defeats by four points or less. Unnecessary blunders defined the team.

In Gibbs's opener, the Redskins had three penalties, one turnover and no sacks -- just four mistakes -- or less than in any Redskins game all of last season. What a shock! Yes, discipline can be coached. And it's only worth about four wins a year. This game may have been one of them. The Buccaneers are an extremely well-coached veteran team and their rigorous coach, Jon Gruden, was satisfied with their execution. Yet Tampa Bay had six penalties, yielded four sacks and two turnovers -- a dozen mistakes.

"They are going to be a handful for a lot of people," said Gruden of the Redskins, though he seemed more impressed by Gregg Williams's defense than by Gibbs's offense, which still doesn't run particularly smoothly in Mark Brunell's hands.

If the Redskins could execute the simplest play in football -- the center-quarterback exchange -- they might even be pretty good pretty soon. But either Brunell or backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey has butchered snaps in practices and in almost every preseason game. Yesterday, three more fumbles were caused by botched exchanges. Twice, Brunell fell on the ball after he and center Lennie Friedman missed connections. Once, after center Cory Raymer tripped Brunell by stepping on his foot, the bobbled ball ended up in the hands of cornerback Ronde Barber, who trotted nine yards to the Washington end zone.

"We have to eliminate that," Bugel said. "That's grade school."

The Redskins had plenty of other flaws and needn't be too gleeful over beating a team that went 7-9 last year. Nonetheless, this victory provided the most elemental sort of grounding that Gibbs and his staff had hoped to establish.

The pounding ground game is back. "Portis is a tough guy," Gibbs said. "He's going to be a heck of a Redskin."

The defense loves to gamble, just as many of Petitbon's best units did. Also, the team's commitment to error-free football may have taken a quantum leap. When you have the highest payroll in NFL history, that alone should ensure considerable improvement.

Most important, however, the Redskins may have begun the long process of reclaiming their old identity. In those bygone days, when the game was on the line, they smashed foes in the mouth then got a hug from Joe. For one day, they did it again.