TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Ricky Williams' paltry 1.8 yards-per-carry rushing average against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't concern the Miami Dolphins.

"You can't evaluate Ricky on four or five carries. Forget about that. He needs 25, 30 carries to evaluate him," coach Dave Wannstedt said after Williams was held to 9 yards on five attempts in a 14-10 loss Monday night.

"He's going to be fine," Wannstedt said. "He didn't have much of a chance. The two or three times when he got the ball, it seemed like they had more guys waiting on him than we had blocking them."

Williams, acquired in an offseason trade from New Orleans, played two series in his debut for the Dolphins, who didn't allow any starters to play much more than a quarter.

"I think I have a chance to be a main part of the offense. I'll have a chance to carry the ball a lot and do a lot of good things for the offense," Williams said.

"I think our defense has proven over the past couple of years that they're definitely holding up their end of the bargain. If our offense can play as well as our defense plays, I think we're going to have a good shot to win a lot of games this year."

Tampa Bay, launching the Jon Gruden era is hoping for the same thing.

Frank Murphy returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and Rob Johnson threw a 4-yard TD pass to Keenan McCardell as the Bucs built a 14-0 lead.

Tampa Bay entered the league in 1976 and has never returned a kickoff for a touchdown during the regular season. Murphy's runback was the fifth by a Tampa Bay player in a preseason game.

"We started the game with a bang," Gruden said. "That kind of thing doesn't happen around here a lot."

Ray Lucas threw a 5-yard TD pass to Dedric Ward, and Olindo Mare kicked a 43-yard field goal for Miami, which outgained Tampa Bay in total yardage (305-245) but wasted several scoring opportunities.

The Bucs paid a hefty price - four high draft picks, $8 million cash - to pry the 38-year-old Gruden from the Oakland Raiders in hopes of finally assembling an offense to complement a championship-caliber defense.

With five new starters on offense, and second-year pro Kenyatta Walker making the move from left to right tackle, the Bucs ran for 182 yards but finished with just 63 net yards passing.

McCardell is one of 10 veteran free agents signed to help overhaul an attack that ranked 30th in rushing and 26th overall last season. Johnson, the former Buffalo Bills starter, was brought in as competition for incumbent Brad Johnson at quarterback.

"We are going to be a very good offense, if not great," said McCardell, one of the league's most productive receivers the past six seasons with Jacksonville.

"We are going to take it one step at a time and be good first. If everybody dedicates themselves, we can be a great offense. I think it is a good start for us. I just hope we keep getting better."

Jay Fiedler, sidelined part of training camp while recovering from hip surgery, started at quarterback for Miami and completed 4 of 6 passes for 36 yards. Lucas went 11-of-15 for 136 yards.

"The hip feels good. ... It felt really good going into the game. It felt good coming out," Fiedler said. "I landed pretty hard on the other - on my right side - on one of the screen passes, but that didn't affect anything on the left side at all."

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