Redskins hope to avenge difficult losses to Bucs

~ The two teams will meet in an NFC wild-card showdown.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Jon Jansen has tried his best to forget the last time the Washington Redskins visited Tampa Bay for a playoff game.

But just as he and his teammates haven't been able to erase the memory of a disappointing 1-point loss to the Buccaneers earlier this season, six years hasn't changed the offensive tackle's recollection of how the team's most recent postseason trip ended.

The Redskins blew a 13-point second-half lead and lost 14-13 to Tampa Bay in the 1999 NFC divisional round. Dan Turk's errant snap foiled a potential winning 52-yard field-goal attempt by Brett Conway with a little more than a minute remaining.

"It was exciting because it was my rookie year," Jansen recalled. "We obviously had a terrific season and won the division and things seemed to be going real well. Just to have things fall apart like that in the second half, you realize to some extent what home-field advantage means."

The Redskins (10-6) will get another crack at the Bucs (11-5) today in the wild-card round at Raymond James Stadium, where Washington also came up a point short in a memorable game on Nov. 13.

Tampa Bay won that day, 36-35, on Mike Alstott's 2-point conversion run with 58 seconds left.

The Redskins still don't believe Alstott got into the end zone on the play, but have moved on.

After losing their next two games to fall to 5-6, they've put together a five-game winning streak to earn a postseason berth for the first time since make that last trip to Tampa as NFC East champs.

"I don't necessarily look at the 2-point conversion. I look at the opportunity that we gave them to have the 2-point conversion," Jansen said. "If we get a first down when we have the ball, we're able to take a knee later in the game and end it on our terms. As an offensive line, we didn't provide that opportunity. That's what sticks with me."

The victory was a turning point in for Tampa Bay, sparking the team's second-half surge to the NFC South title at 11-5.