The QB Blast: Boo-Boo Precautions Are Laughable
August 30th, 2010
Former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson
By JEFF CARLSON
JoeBucsFan.com analyst
Former Bucs quarterback Jeff Carlson (1990 & 1991) writes The QB Blast column here at JoeBucsFan.com. Joe is ecstatic to have him firing away. Carlson is often seen as a color analyst on Bright House Sports Network, and he trains quarterbacks of all ages locally via his company, America’s Best Quarterback.
The Bucs struggled again in preseason Game 3 to make their offense look like an improved version from 2009. And Josh Freeman watched from the stands, probably because Coach Morris was too afraid he might start warming up on the sidelines and hurt his already injured thumb.
Last week’s quotes from Morris about keeping Freeman off the practice field because the overly-excited QB might start throwing the ball on a side field against doctor’s and coach’s orders, hit me as probably the silliest thing I have ever heard.
Most readers took the comments as just sarcasm by Morris (which they should have been), so I didn’t react to it. But as John Lynch related the same story from Josh Freeman’s lips during Saturday night’s game, I’m just flabbergasted that the story was true.
Players are preached to, from high school on up to the pros, that every play matters and if you aren’t in the game or practice, you should know what the play is and go through the mental repetitions for maximum improvement. Why Freeman wouldn’t be in Greg Olson’s pocket on every rep working through the live-action is beyond me, and to not have your “franchise” on the practice field because he has a fingertip boo-boo is too much.
To think Freeman, who spent the entire offseason working out at One Buc at his own will, is such a free spirit that he doesn’t have the personal discipline to not throw before he is cleared and that the coach thinks it necessary to keep him inside the building doing other things to “protect him from himself” just doesn’t make any sense at all.
It makes me think of one of the great movie scenes of all time in A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. Nicholson, as “Colonel Jessup,” is being deposed by Cruise on the witness stand. Cruise is trying to understand the Marine Corps code of conduct. Colonel Jessup explains that his men always follow his orders and they never take matters into their own hands, “They follow orders or people die,” he says.
To think that the Corps of Bucs Morris is leading is so loose and not concerned with repercussions that the star QB could get coerced by the star receiver Kellen Winslow to go throw passes on the field next to the team practice and put the team’s success in jeopardy is just too funny.
If discipline is that big a problem, just wrap his whole hand and arm in a cast so that he can’t hold a ball at all and get his head in on as many mental reps as possible. What is keeping Freeman from trying out his mending thumb when he leaves the practice facility anyway?
August 30th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
So then why did you give the order for Private Santiago to be transferred Colonel?
August 30th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Jeff Carlson, “You can’t HANDLE the truth!”
Josh Freeman is appearently a little boy who doesn’t listen to his daddy Raheem. So Rah needs to put that child in his place.
Raheem knows what he’s doin. He’s the ole ball coawch. He is a mastermind.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Since when is common sense part of the Raheem The Dream way? Better question, what’s stopping Freeman from hanging from a chandelier at his house with six naked babes below him bobbing for apples?
There’s got to be some trust.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Gimme a break. He was just building the kid up as we already know he is a tireless worker.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Freeman was in the booth listening to plays getting a birds eye view. He could of just watched, but he was listening in. I don’t think the kid gets enough credit. If he’s itching to throw, then it obviously doesn’t hurt too bad.
August 30th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
This is hilarious.
Nice job Carlson.
….On having the worst JoeBucsFan post in a while. Like someone else said, Gimme a break.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Carlson is right on the money. If this was the first moronic thing to come out of Morris’ pie hole it would be one thing. But this guy continues to defy logic with his comments. Maybe if Freeman took off his underwear and put his face on somebody, that would put Rah’s mind more at ease.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
So, about Freeman not getting “mental reps” during the game…. as far as I understand, Freeman wasn’t in the stands. He was in the offensive’s suite, where as far as I know they get to replay the game, strategize, and call offensive plays.
What better place for your franchise QB to be than the nerve center of the game-day offense? Your bit about him not being allowed on the field because he may be coerced into tossing a ball around being silly is solid. But maybe you saw a different shot of Freeman than I did during the game, one where he traded his headset for, as Joe says, a tasty cold adult beverage.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I’d prefer a breakdown of the QB play similar to Steve White on the D line. Free was watching from the sky which he would never have a chance to do otherwise. BIG FAT HAIRY DEAL, OMG THE SKY IS FALLING!!!, just another attempt to blast Raheem. Carlson, the commenter’s do that enough already. How about some REAL breakdown of JJ’s start?
August 30th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
“You want me on that field. You need me on that field!”
“You’re G*d D*mn right I did !!!”
Cudos to Carlson, Steve W. & the Big Fella. That was funny. Good stuff on a Monday!
All the Big Guns are in the House! Go Raheem! Go Bucs!!!
August 30th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Why is it that everyone, or nearly everyone, here wishes to bash Raheem Morris. Carlson is out of line with this article, because the very thing he ‘claims’ Freeman wasn’t getting…he actually was getting.
Or did Carlson not see the head set on Freeman, as he listened to the play calling?
The truth is, Josh Freeman got the opportunity to watch the game from an angle that NO starting QB ever gets…from the booth. He also got to discuss things with an assistant coach who sat next to him.
But of course, most of you (above), including Carlson, would rather twist the truth than give Raheem any credit.
Newsflash, people. You can complain till you are blue in the face…Raheem is here to stay for at least this season AND next season.
I saw the same thing when Gruden was here. Some people are more happy being miserable and bashing than maintaining a positive, objective outlook.
Instead of bashing, perhaps people should consider that even though Morris started rough, he’s on the right track now.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
“Raheem is here to stay for at least this season AND next season.”
Yeah OK peter.
Not even Raheem believes that crap.
Raheem himself knows he has to do something serious to hang around another year, as it should be with ANY 3-13 team.
August 30th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Ash said “I’d prefer a breakdown of the QB play similar to Steve White on the D line.”
Agreed.
Jeff, I know you don’t have film to see the whole field and all, but can you do a QB break down of the actual play?
Not that interested in your opinion if it lacks substance 😉 .
But seriously, talk about the offense at least.
You can skip Rudy Carpenter’s aweful play though. Thanks.
Come back later this week with something worth while bud.
So far Steve White is running circles around you pretty boy! 🙂
August 30th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
I mean, does Joe have to go out and get Trent Dilfer to replace you?
August 30th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Sitting in the booth ain’t the sidelines. No way.
August 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Don’t agree with Carlson… Freeman rarely has the opportunity to see defensive spreads and offensive plays take shape from the coordinators booth except when a picture is printed out on paper and showed to him on the sidelines during a game or practice. All it would take is a bump from a player on the sidelines to reinjury that very small bone in your thumb. I think freeman in the coordinators booth with a motorola headset on was the right decision.
August 30th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Freeman was busy telling jokes, drinking soda, and spinning his pencil on his finger. Is there proof he was actually paying attention?
August 30th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Freeman worked his way down to the field in the Second half. Don’t kid yourself. No matter what they say, you can’t keep a good man down, and this kid’s a keeper. JJ is too, and happy to be Freeman’s wingman.
August 30th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
Whats even more silly is that Carlson wrote an entire article on that…what exactly was the point of this article anyway; I’d prefer Freeman to prepare against the Browns than against the Jagz/Texans.
August 30th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Yeah, but Rudy Carpenter is an absolute waste of roster space.
August 30th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
This article is much ado about nothing. The really “laughable” and “silly’ part is anyone spending money to be “trained’ by Jeff Carlson, a guy with a lifetime quarterback rating of 34.1 with 2 career TDs and 9 career INTs. Don’t believe me? Go to:
http://www.nfl.com/players/careerstats?id=CAR138411
August 30th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Good thing we are three years ahead of schedule.
Otherwise, I might be worried.
August 30th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
In my best Allen Iverson impression: Practice? We talking bout practice? The point of the article was that the Buccaneers franchise player was told to stay off the practice field for multiple days by the head coach because his finger is hurt. Even with many more years experience than Josh Freeman, I don’t think Super Bowl Champion quarterbacks like Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or any other quarterback for that matter would be told to stay away from practice and the mental reps that go along with it if they had a hurt finger or a 3 inch gash on the forehead like Eli Manning. It says something quite important about the mentality of the coach and/or the quarterback that he couldn’t be trusted to protect himself from himself to be on the field like the rest of the team. Donovan McNabb has a hurt ankle and is out of preseason games, but was standing around at practice with a brace on his ankle and in his football jersey, participating. I guess Mike Shanahan figured he wouldn’t take off running on a side field with one of his receivers to test it out earlier than he was supposed to.
By the way, Josh Johnson continues to show us all that he can throw fine and should be on the field some way–the new “slash”. He also shows why, after getting drilled on a scramble, that the Bucs need someone other than Rudy Carpenter to be ready for this season. Nothing against Carpenter, but if going to the inexperienced first round pick Freeman last year meant a lost season, then going to Carpenter should mean the same thing and I don’t want the Buccaneers to have another lost season, so I think they should have a better plan if Freeman goes down and Johnson steps in and takes one of those shots that his style guarantees he will take and cause them to be looking for their next inexperienced QB.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:07 am
@Javier n Wimauma
Actually, this is exactly what I mean my ignorance. If you think it through, you will realize I am right. Raheem WILL be here this year and next. THINK. He’s a lock for this season, right? He’s also cheap, and with no football being played next year, the Glazers won’t be replacing him then either. Like I said…think things through.
@Jeff Carlson
I usually agree with your insights, but in this case I find myself in direct opposition to the article and your opinion.
First, those other QBs you mentioned are far from inexperienced. That does play a role. Second, you sound like you are anti-Morris in this article. I don’t care for that. As a professional, I think if you are going to be biased, you should at least look at all the angles.
For example, in the coming years, Freeman will have tons of opportunities to learn from the sidelines or on the field. He’ll have plenty of time watching film, going over things with coaches and such. HOWEVER, what are the chances he will get to view things from the perspective he had on Saturday in the box, while listening on the headset?
Your refusal to acknowledge to value of this seems out of place. Freeman has put in tons of time this off season, watching film, studying the paybook and practicing. I hardly think ONE WEEK is going to set him back.
I agreed with you as to Freeman changing his grip on the ball when he throws to increase accuracy and ball control…that’s the sort of thing only someone with experience would pick up on. But I simply cannot agree with you on this current point.
So he lost a week of practice. Big deal. He’s been working his teil off throughout the offseason. Consider this his off season break.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:10 am
Please excuse my typos above…I’m typing in the dark with only the light of a monitor…plus I’m the King of Typos.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:27 am
I remember Unitas came back from a punctured lung and two broken ribs in three weeks.
And a broken nose in a Championship game.
Damn I am old, remembering crap like that! Somebody just shoot me please.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:28 am
I think there is a huge misunderstanding in this topic. He’s not saying he didn’t want Freeman on the sidelines during the game. The comment was made last week during practice, Josh was sent to physical therapy and film study, because Morris was “concerned” he’d start throwing a ball around with K2 on the side field. This had nothing to do with the game on Saturday or Freeman in the booth watching the game and listening on the headset.
He thinks that Freeman is more disciplined than Morris gives him credit for, that if told not to throw he wouldn’t throw. And, if he did throw against the coaches and trainers wishes, the team as a whole is probably not getting the discipline they need from the staff. The coach should be able to say “don’t throw the ball, your thumb is fractured” and the QB should say OK and go through mental reps on the sideline… not ignore the coach and throw anyway. Freeman did neither, as he was sent packing to the locker room.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:32 am
…Monday Morning Quarterbacking at its finest.
August 31st, 2010 at 1:35 am
Sad that some of you attack Carlson personally for a simple (and funny) take on an important issue. …Like what could he possibly know aobut playing quarterback. …Idiots.
August 31st, 2010 at 5:35 am
Buzzkill,
So it’s laughable to you that Carlson teaches kids how to play football better? If his NFL stats aren’t good enough to coach kids, then Raheem must have put up some impressive NFL stats to be able to coach professionals. Geez, even just making an NFL team is pretty impressive in my book. You, buzzkill, are what is “silly” and “laughable”!
August 31st, 2010 at 8:38 am
The game of football is 90% mental for a young quarterback. Carlson has lived through this. It would be like Raheem skipping 2 week’s practices because he had a sore throat, and didn’t want to be aggravated into screaming at stupid play. He could then rest his throat for the home opener and have his voice at 100% against the Browns. Raheem at 33 has little to no experience and Freeman has even less.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:19 am
BamBam, on the money as usual.
Keith D, I agree 100%
Lightningbuc, you too nailed it.
Thanks guys for being the voices of reason.
And thanks Jeff for doing what you do.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:20 am
Pete Deucher,
You are wrong. Raheem himself knows this is most likely his last hoo-Rah.
Jeff Carlson thanks for taking the time!
And nice way to face the haters with that rebuttle! Keep em coming buddy. At least you have actually seen a defensive blitz, on a Sunday, in your face in the NFL. Not many people can say that at all. Thanks.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:22 am
@lite-buc
So let me make sure I understand the rules here:
It’s OK to attack and demean the head coach or players.
But God forbid you should say anything negative about a columnist … especially one with which you totally agree.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
August 31st, 2010 at 9:53 am
Buzzard,
So let me make sure I understand you. Because a guy had less than stellar NFL stats means he has nothing to teach kids? Damn, this past summer I PAID for my son to go to Plant High School’s football camp to have their coach, who has NEVER played football at any level yet has managed to coach his teams to 3 state titles in the last 4 years, train my kid and help him further his football knowledge. Silly me – I should have verified that he was a Hall of Fame NFL’er before going.