'SKINS DOING IT WITHOUT DEFENSE.

Byline: Joseph White Associated Press 

Since the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970, no team ranked last in the league on defense has made it to the playoffs.

The Washington Redskins would like to change that, and backup center Trevor Matich figures history could be on their side.

``I think it was Napoleon that said, `No one asked the victor how they won,' '' Matich said on defense of Washington's 30th-rated defense.

But if the Redskins (8-5), who start a three-game season-closing run, should worry about anything, inexperience should be it.

Starting quarterback Gus Frerotte, for instance, has never played in a game that had playoff implications for his team. Neither has defensive end Rich Owens. Nor Tom Carter, Tre Johnson or any of a dozen players who will start Sunday at Tampa Bay.

In fact, the stepped-up intensity of a playoff run will be a new experience to 32 players on the 53-man roster.

When Frerotte was asked how he could learn to handle the pressure of the next few weeks, all he could do was shrug his shoulders.

``I don't know. I've never been there before,'' he said. ``That'd be a good question for Darrell.''

Cornerback Darrell Green and other veterans with postseason experience have indeed addressed the matter, letting the younger players know that nothing can be held back in the games to come.

``They made it known to us that a lot of guys spend their whole careers in the NFL and don't get a chance to go to the playoffs,'' said second-year tight end Jamie Asher. ``And here we are a young team, and we're getting a shot at it this year and it's something you've got to take advantage of. This opportunity doesn't come around every day.''

``You've got to stress to them that it's time to take it to another level,'' said linebacker Marvcus Patton, who played in three Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills. ``You think you've been playing hard or preparing hard thus far. You've got to prepare even harder.

``It's pretty much a one-game thing now. Every game is playoffs, even for us now.''

Players first started talking openly about playoffs when the Redskins were 7-1 following a seven-game winning streak. Since then, the team has lost four out of five - including consecutive setbacks to San Francisco and Dallas - but no one is apologizing for jumping the gun on postseason hopes.

``We've had a rough stretch the last five or six games,'' Asher said. ``And we've played well.

``We played with some of the teams that said they were (predicted) to win the Super Bowl. We took (San Francisco) to overtime. We played tough with them, and it's just a couple of plays here and there of having three more wins instead of three more losses.''

Games against Arizona and Dallas follow Tampa Bay, and the Redskins' playoff chances would still be dicey if they won only one of those three.

Two victories would almost certainly be enough, but the players are taking the attitude that a sweep is needed to make sure they're in.

``It's time to get serious,'' Asher said. ``We need to win the next three, but we can't win the next three unless we beat Tampa Bay.''