Redskin barely returns kickoff for score

By MIKE READLING
Published November 14, 2005

TAMPA - It was the tightrope walk of all tightrope walks. And perhaps most annoying to Bucs fans was Ladell Betts didn't know he was doing it.

He didn't know he was inches away from brushing a painted white blade of grass with his cleat, thereby turning a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown into simply a nice gain. Betts didn't realize just how close he came to allowing Tampa Bay to maintain the momentum it gained on a touchdown less than a minute earlier.

Coach Jon Gruden knew and challenged the call, hoping referee Bill Vinovich could see what 65,421 fans believed they saw on the magnified replays: part of a foot on part of the sideline.

"I thought it was close enough to challenge just because of the proximity of the field and the magnitude of the play. You have to put it in the officials' hands," Gruden said. "You see white shoe on white line, you think it's an overturn."

Vinovich emerged from beneath the replay canopy and announced the call stood. Touchdown.

"We did not have indisputable visual evidence," he said. "The heel appeared to be up on every angle, on every shot they had. The heel never came down on the line. We had no shot showing the foot touching the line at all. They blew it up for us and everything. We had a great angle."

For Betts, a fourth-year running back, it was his first kickoff return for a touchdown since his senior year at Blue Springs (Mo.) High. At least it was after he did a little sweating while Vinovich watched replays.

"I was a little bit nervous," said Betts, who later caught his first touchdown. "I didn't realize I was that close to the sideline. I knew I was close, but I didn't know I was tiptoeing it like that."

After 99 carries in the first four games, Williams missed two games with a foot injury. In the three games since, he has 34 carries for 69 yards. After he fumbled on the first possession of the second half, Williams remained on the bench for the team's entire second possession.

Meanwhile, Michael Pittman and Mike Alstott have picked up carries during the past few weeks. Williams said he doesn't believe the coaching staff is trying to protect him (saying he's 100 percent healthy) and he isn't paying much attention to the stat sheet.

"I'm good with whatever the game plan is," Williams said. "If I get 10 carries or 30 carries, as long as we win ballgames, I'm not concerned with how many carries I get."

Portis, who has been fined three times for $35,000 the past two seasons, complied and finished with a season-high 144 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion.

[Last modified November 14, 2005, 01:04:15]