Donovan McNabb threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, but the Redskins' weren't able to pull off the win. (Photo: Jay Westcott)

The Redskins did enough on both offense and defense to give themselves a chance to beat the Bucs. But obviously, they aren't good enough to simply dust aside their mistakes and keep rolling.

There were plenty of slip-ups along the way. Donovan McNabb missed a wide-open red zone pass to Chris Cooley in the first quarter, DeAngelo Hall and Kareem Moore both gave up big pass plays, and the list goes on. But in spite of all that, the Redskins still could’ve won the game.

Here’s a look at what would have stood out as the highlights of the game had it not been for two missed field goals, a special teams fumble to open the second half, and that botched PAT with nine seconds left.

1.) Torain’s big day
“It was good to have him back,” center Casey Rabach said of Ryan Torain, his eyes lighting up when thinking back on the running back’s 24 carries for 172 yards -- a career day for the second-year player. The Redskins would’ve been happy if they could’ve gotten 100 yards from Torain, but instead, he boasted a 7.2-yard-per-carry average and helped pave the way for a balanced offensive attack, and an edge in the time of possession department.

2.) McNabb’s solid day
On a roller-coaster all season long, Donovan McNabb had his most effective performance in nearly a year. McNabb was 22-for-35 for 228 yards and two touchdowns while spreading the ball around to eight different receivers. He boasted a passer rating of 100.7, which is his highest since Dec. 27, 2009, when he posted a QB rating of 104.7.

3.) Fletcher’s big takeaway
The Bucs torched the Redskins with a 43-yard pass to Arrelious Benn. That play put the ball on Washington’s 1-yard line, but on the next snap, Josh Freeman fumbled the snap, and linebacker London Fletcher recovered the ball in the end zone early in the fourth quarter to preserve Washington’s 10-9 lead. The Redskins came out throwing after that, couldn’t connect and thus went three-and-out.

4.) Keiland Williams’ big catch-and-run
Williams took a pass over the middle 36 yards to the Tampa Bay 5-yard line, and then carried the ball three yards to the 2-yard line. From there, the Redskins’ aim was to feed Williams the ball once or twice more to get him his sixth touchdown of the season. But instead, they got hit with a delay of game call and had to settle for a field goal that made the score 10-3 rather than possibly a touchdown that would’ve made it 14-3.

One to chew on . . .
As Phillip Daniels said, “It just sums up our season. Mistakes will hurt you.”

Indeed. The Redskins' mistakes nullified all of those strong contributions just mentioned.

But should it really be surprising that the Redskins couldn’t close out their game against the Bucs on a victorious note? It was a bad day for the Redskins from top to bottom.

The players committed costly mistakes on the field and mental errors as well, but they weren’t the only ones. Mike Shanahan had a rough outing from a clock management standpoint.

On the series in which Keiland Williams came close to scoring, the delay of game call that Washington got hit with was Shanahan’s fault. The coach said he didn’t realize that Washington’s timeout was only a 30-second timeout, and so, he thought he had more time to talk to his quarterback on the sideline. Unknown to Shanahan, the clock started running while he and McNabb were still talking. McNabb came back out and huddled, but Washington couldn’t get the play off in time. That gaff backed the ball up to the 7-yard line, and after an incomplete pass to Williams, Washington had to settle for a field goal, which made the score 10-3.

The late-second-quarter incident wasn’t Shanahan’s only miscue. In the fourth quarter, with time running out, the Redskins reached the Tampa Bay 3-yard line with a slant pass to Anthony Armstrong. There were 41 seconds on the clock when Armstrong made the catch, and the time kept ticking down as the players looked to the sideline and Shanahan ran down to the official closest to him and called timeout, wasting nine seconds. Two plays later, Torain was tackled with 23 seconds left on the clock, but Shanahan again had to run down the sideline and call a timeout, wasting seven seconds.

The Redskins were able to overcome those last-minute mistakes and score on the pass from McNabb to Moss. But with so much confusion flying around throughout the game, it’s no wonder Washington couldn’t get things right when they really needed to on Sunday.