Brad Johnson was unable to find an open receiver after the Redskins' botched snap.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I'm so sick," the 15th-year veteran long snapper said. "It didn't slip. I don't know what happened. I just done what I've done for so long. I don't know if I short-armed it or what. The (nose tackle) got a little jump on me, but nothing abnormal. I don't know."

With the Redskins lined up to kick a 52-yard field goal with 1:17 remaining in Saturday's playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Turk bounced the snap back to holder Brad Johnson. Johnson got sacked trying to throw a desperation pass, and kicker Brett Conway never got a chance to win it. Washington lost, 14-13.

"When you've got a makeable field goal, you'd like to see the ball get up in the air," coach Norv Turner said.

It was the third botched field goal of the season for the Redskins. Turk's brother, Matt Turk, muffed a snap on a potential game-winner on the last play of regulation in the season opener against Dallas, a game the Cowboys won in overtime.

Johnson become the holder later in the season, and he bobbled a snap in overtime against Philadelphia. Fortunately for the Redskins, it was only third down, and Conway made the kick to win the game on the next play.

The bad snap was an especially sour ending because, for nearly three quarters, the Redskins soundly beat the Buccaneers at their own game. It was a very un-Redskin performance: The 30th-ranked defense was outstanding, the second-ranked offense was inept.

Washington seemed in control when Conway's 48-yard field goal made it 13-0 with 8:10 to play in the third quarter. The Redskins, making their first playoff appearance in seven years, had been 20-0 when leading after three quarters in playoff games.

"That may have been the problem, us thinking we had it," receiver Albert Connell said, "instead of keeping popping and going at them. It goes like that sometimes. You get a little lackadaisical. You feel you have a comfortable enough lead. You can't do that."

Then the defense started giving up big plays at bad times, although one of them -- a forced fumble that got turned into a first down -- was just bad luck. The offense went from run-first conservative to pass-first downfield, resulting in two turnovers the Bucs converted into their two touchdowns.

"We turned the ball over twice in the second half, and that was the difference in the ballgame," Turner said.

The defense had its best day by far. Warrick Dunn was held to 24 yards rushing on 15 carries. Mike Alstott, thought to be unstoppable, had a paltry 18 yards on 11 attempts. Defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield, two years after signing a $36 million contract, had his first high-impact game for the Redskins.

But the offense didn't score a touchdown for the first time this season. The Redskins ran 27 plays in the second half and gained just 26 yards. The only TD came on Brian Mitchell's playoff-record, 100-yard kickoff return to start the second half.

"The defense did great," guard Tre Johnson said. "We put them in bad positions when stuff got thick. Too many threes-and-outs on things we should've converted.

"Say what you want about them all year, them boys (the defense) came ready. My dogs came ready to bite today. I was proud as heck of them, and I feel like we let them down. It's a terrible feeling."

The Redskins defense brought the ranch to the line of scrimmage to stop the run and dared rookie Shaun King to throw. King was 4-for-14 in the first half, but 11-for-18 in the second half.

Even so, the Bucs went three-and-out six times and punted a team-record 10 times. On the game-winning drive, the Redskins actually forced a fumble on third-and-3 at the Washington 23, but Dunn picked it up and ran for a fortuitous first down.

The offense, by contrast, committed two huge unforced errors. Brad Johnson threw an interception to start Tampa Bay's first touchdown drive, then he lost a fumble when hit on the blindside by Steve White deep in Redskins territory to set up the Bucs' second score. White got by the block of Kipp Vickers, who was starting his first game of the season in place of injured left tackle Andy Heck.

But all that would have been forgotten if Conway had made the field goal he never got a chance to kick.

"We can't get the simple mechanics of the field goal down," Tre' Johnson said. "We don't deserve to go. That's justice. That's the playoffs, baby."

When the snap went bad, owner Dan Snyder, who tried to will his team to success this season with his high-demand, win-now philosophy, folded his arms and bit his lip. He made some cursory remarks to the players in the somber locker room, asking them to hold their heads high. He had no comment to reporters after the game, but is expected to be active in coming days. Several assistant coaches, including special teams coach LeCharls McDaniel and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, are thought to be on the chopping block.