TAMPA BAY, Fla. - Joe Gibbs’ teams always had a knack for peaking at the right time, and these Washington Redskins are no different.

With the Hall of Fame coach back in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, the Redskins — at least on defense — looked like a Super Bowl contender again in beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-10 in the NFC wild-card round Saturday.

The victory was the sixth straight for the Redskins (11-6), who won despite gaining only 120 yards on offense — the lowest total in NFL history for a winning team in a postseason game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“It’s been a tough fight these last six weeks,” said linebacker Marcus Washington, who recovered a fumble and had a fourth-quarter interception. “We ain’t ready to go home yet, so we’re going to keep sawing wood.”

LaVar Arrington’s interception set up Clinton Portis’ 6-yard touchdown run, and Sean Taylor returned a fumble 51 yards for another first-quarter score for the Redskins, who rebounded from a three-game losing streak to win five straight to get into the playoffs.

“I go to work with a great bunch of guys, and they have a lot of fight to them,” Gibbs said after his first playoff game since a divisional-round loss to San Francisco on Jan. 9, 1993. “They never gave up no matter what the circumstances.”

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Taylor was later ejected for spitting in the face of a Bucs player, further depleting an injury-riddled defense that held off two Tampa Bay scoring threats in the closing minutes, including a near catch in the end zone that could have tied the game with just less than three minutes to go.

Chris Simms lofted a perfect spiral to Edell Shepherd on third-and-10 from the Washington 35, but the Tampa Bay receiver lost control of the ball as he was coming down in the end zone.

Simms, unaware the pass was ruled incomplete, began celebrating near the sideline — and the Bucs’ stadium crew set off premature fireworks. Tampa Bay asked for a video review, burning its final timeout, but the call was correctly upheld by instant replay.

John Raoux / AP Buccaneers wide receiver Edell Shepherd is unable to hold onto what would have been a 35-yard touchdown pass late in the game.

“It’s unfortunate,” coach Jon Gruden said. “He was open, he had his hands on the ball, and he was in the end zone.”

The Redskins advanced to a divisional round game next Saturday at Seattle (13-3). They also avenged a 36-35 loss to Tampa Bay (11-6) this season, a game the Bucs won on Mike Alstott’s 2-point conversion run with less than a minute remaining.

“Our defense was incredible,” Redskins quarterback Mark Brunell said. “You can’t say enough about them.”

Slide show   Super Bowl bound Top images from the NFL’s championship game round.

Gibbs, who came out of retirement two years ago, took over sole possession of third place on the career playoff wins list for a coach, improving to 17-5 in the postseason, including three Super Bowl titles during his first stint with the Redskins from 1981-92.

The Hall of Famer is known as an offensive innovator, but the Redskins were outgained in this one 243-120.

“Our guys on offense were giving it everything we had,” Gibbs said. “We tried a little bit of everything, and we couldn’t get anything to work.”