BALTIMORE, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Quarterback Brad Johnson ran Coach Jon Gruden's offense to perfection and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense harassed Chris Redman all afternoon Sunday en route to a 25-0 blanking of the Baltimore Ravens.
In his first season in Gruden's offense, Johnson was inconsistent in last week's disappointing, season-opening loss to the New Orleans Saints.
But Johnson, who nearly signed with the Ravens as a free agent in 2001, was much better Sunday. The eight-year veteran completed his first nine passes and finished 24 of 31 for 211 yards.
"We're only scratching the surface," Johnson said. "We did a good job with the clock and with long drives. We didn't go three-and-out, that's where you really kill your team. That's what killed us last week. We didn't do that and we came with field goals."
Karl Williams returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and Martin Gramatica kicked a pair of field goals in the opening half for Tampa Bay (1-1).
Redman, in his first year as the starter for the rebuilding Ravens (0-2), directed just one scoring drive in last week's loss at Carolina and he had his hands full Sunday against one of the NFL's most aggressive defenses.
Redman completed just 16 of 38 passes for 141 yards and was booed in the second half. To cap off his miserable day, Redman had an interception returned 96 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Derrick Brooks with 61 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
"They were tough, real tough," Redman said. "We were just a little off today but we kept fighting."
"It was a game we had to have," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "That's the way we looked at it all week. Somebody is going to be sick coming out of the stadium and we knew it wasn't going to be us."
Tampa Bay recorded its first shutout since a 41-0 blanking of Chicago on Sept. 10, 2000. The Bucs held the Ravens to 173 total yards and 12 first downs.
"It was a pretty thorough butt whipping in every phase of the game," Ravens coach Brian Billick said. "We'll take positives where we can. The defense not giving up a touchdown was a positive, but again it is as thorough of a beating as you're going to get.
"They are an awfully good defense, but certainly we have to play better in a number of different capacities. You cannot be that ineffective."
In a pregame ceremony, the Ravens paid tribute to the late Johnny Unitas with a video montage and unveiled a white Baltimore Colts No. 19 jersey, painted on the sideline. Unitas died of a heart attack on Wednesday at the age of 69.
Johnson was on target from the start, going five of five for 48 yards on the game's opening drive that Gramatica culminated with a 36-yard field goal.
Redman had no such luck, misfiring on his first two attempts as the Ravens went three-and-out on their first two possessions.
Williams helped the Bucs extend the lead when he took David Zastudil's punt at his own 44. After shaking a pair of tackles, Williams picked up a block and raced untouched the rest of the way down the right sideline, making it 10-0 with 1:54 left in the first quarter.
"It developed very slowly. I just found the holes that I needed to," Williams said. "That's what makes the good teams great, special teams. I just looked at it as it helped us win."
On their first possession of the second quarter, the Bucs started deep in their own territory. But Johnson moved them 82 yards in 17 plays with Gramatica connecting on a 30-yard field goal.
"We had horrible field position today and I thought he did a great job managing," Gruden said. "We had some long drives. We would have liked some touchdowns but that just didn't happen."
