Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Washington Redskins (3-0) look to continue their preseason success in a road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-2) in the final exhibition game for both teams at Raymond James Stadium in Florida. The game can be live streamed here. Redskins fans can tune in to hear all of the action on WTEM (ESPN 980) while Bucs fans can do the same at WFUS (103.5 FM).
Washington has yet to lose a preseason game thus far and is coming off of a 30-7 shelling of the Buffalo Bills at home while Tampa Bay picked up its first preseason win last week in a victory over the Dolphins in Miami by a 17-16 margin. This will be the Redskins last game before the team opens up the regular-season at home against the division rival Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football Sept. 9 and it will be the final game for Tampa Bay before it travels to open up the season against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium Sept. 8.
With both teams looking ahead to their respective season openers, there probably won't be too many snaps played by their starters in this, the final week of preseason games, but the road ahead for each should prove to be interesting.
It's been an odd preseason for the Redskins, as the defending AFC East champions haven't been beaten thus far even without quarterback Robert Griffin III in the lineup. RG3 is poised to make a return during Week 1 and after a breakout season as a rookie, the expectations in Washington are very high. Griffin has been sidelined since he had surgery to repair his injured knee on Jan. 9. Griffin injured the knee in a Week 14 game against the Ravens, but returned in Week 16 to help lead the Redskins to victory over the Eagles before re-injuring it in the team's wildcard playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Redskins had a great season last year, ending it all with an 10-6 record before falling to the Seahawks 24-14 in the wildcard game that saw Griffin get re-injured.
Griffin has insisted he'll be ready to go for the Monday night game Sept. 9.
"I would say I'm 100 percent, but you can't put a number on it," Griffin told ESPN Tuesday. "No one ever knows when they are 100 percent or what percentage they're playing at. The biggest thing is, I'm not below 100 percent."
Griffin went 258-for-393 for 3,200 yards last season while throwing 20 touchdown passes to five interceptions. He also rushed for 815 yards on 120 carries while reaching the end zone seven times.
Rex Grossman has looked good in the preseason, making a push to take over Kirk Cousins for the back-up spot under center.
Meanwhile, the Buccaneers is hoping that offseason acquisitions--including former-Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis--will help the team turn around a pass defense that was ranked dead-last in the NFL last season.
Revis was limited to just two games last season with the Jets after tearing his ACL and hasn't suited up in a Bucs uniform yet but should be ready for the Sept. 8 clash against his former team. In 2011, Revis appeared in all 16 games, recording four interceptions for 184 yards, a touchdown and 41 tackles. Revis will look to try and help turn the defense around for the Bucs this year.
Revis recently made news by telling Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman that he has to earn the crown of being the best corner in the league after Sherman anointed himself as the top guy.
"You can't crown yourself as anything in this league," Revis told USA Today Sports. "You've got to earn it."
Tampa Bay is looking to bounce back after going 7-9 last year and missing the playoffs for the fifth straight year by finishing fourth in the NFC South.
While the Buccaneers look to improve their defense, it was their offense that caused problems for them last game. Fifth-year quarterback Josh Freeman was 6-for-16 for 59 yards last week against Miami and was sacked five times, while even losing a fumble during the game. The offense only mounted 160 yards overall in the game and 14 first downs.
Last season with Tampa Bay, Freeman went 306-for-558 for 4,065 yards with 27 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
In this final clash before the regular season, the Redskins look to go perfect in the preseason while the Buccaneers look to turn their offense and defense around.
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