“It Could Be Some Mechanics”
May 26th, 2012
- New Bucs offensive coordinator talked about working to get Josh Freeman back to his 2010 form
Hey Mike Sullivan. What are you seeing on film from Josh Freeman and how are you specifically going to get No. 5 back on track?
That was the question posed to the Bucs’ offensive coordinator when he took to the SiriusXM NFL Radio airwaves this afternoon.
Interestingly Sullivan’s first specific referenced was Freeman’s mechanics, something former Bucs QB Jeff Carlson has pounded the drum about for years as an analyst on these here pages. Carlson has often said anyone in the know can detect Freeman’s poor mechanics from still images.
“I think when you take a look at some of the things we were able to assess on film, and some of the specifics, it could be some mechanics,” Sullivan said. “It could be some certain things that would affect the accuracy. Ultimately, though a lot it is the decisions sometimes that are made. We don’t know necessrily what was going into the decision, why the decision was made. But when you take a step back and objectively look at tape and then you analyze why the ball went where it did, and you kind of hear an explanation as far as [Freeman’s] justification for that then you can start the education process about how we want to do things and when an incompletion is not only OK, it’s a good thing, when a sack is not only OK, it’s a good thing. I mean it’s all about protecting the football and making those smart decisions.”
Joe was pleased to hear this stuff from Sullivan, versus the “push the reset button” line Greg Schiano and rockstar general manager Mark Dominik have used publicly when talking about the approach to getting Freeman back to 2010 form.
Fixing Freeman is hands down the most important task for the New Schiano World Order. If Freeman’s on the field moving well and throwing four times more touchdowns than picks like he did in 2010, it’ll be darn hard for the Bucs to come up with a losing record.
May 26th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
I do believe that Freeman has legit gamer talent but I don’t know if his mechanics will always hamper him going to the next level.
May 26th, 2012 at 6:05 pm
It’s about making josh a better QB forget the reset button take the guy to the n t level snd take the team to the promise land
May 26th, 2012 at 6:07 pm
Sorry bout tht take him to the next level and take the team to the promise land go bucs!
May 26th, 2012 at 7:43 pm
If he can complete over 60% of his passes with bad mechanics, the league better look out if his mechanics get even a little fixed. Not only will he be elite, he will top 5.
May 26th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
I hope this isn’t the beginning of the end for Josh Freeman. I’m a staunch proponent of the use of science to improve man physiologically and ergonomically. But I get nervous when we attempt to “robo-cop” or re-engineer people to maximize performance. I believe in the concept of the natural athlete where training, experience, and improved decision-making take advantage of natural ability.
Freeman did something right when he won 10 games in 2010. Was his mechanics visibly bad then or did they get that way in 2011 and what caused it? I don’t want to fix his arm or throwing motion and mess up his head. I think his head (coolness under pressure) is his most outstanding attribute. I would prefer to help him improve his decision-making – when to throw the ball or not throw the ball – when to throw it away or take the sack.
Take Freeman out of situations where he doesn’t perform well and focus on his strengths. Do not fit Freeman to the playbook, design the playbook around him. He was not born an Aaron Rodgers and never will be. But we know he can win games because we’ve seen it!
Brad Johnson is just now getting credit for being a pretty good QB, instead of just a game manager. Brad won us a Super Bowl and Freeman can to if we focus on his strengths and not try to re-engineer the man!
May 26th, 2012 at 9:12 pm
How do you hear “kind of an explanation”? Guess they didn’t fall for the evreyone else made me do it. Some where someone forgot to ask if they saw the other things the rest of us did. Like he couldn’t read a defense if they gave him the playbook.
May 27th, 2012 at 2:22 am
Like I’ve said all along, Freeman is a mirror image of Tim Tebow. Mecanics are something tat can be coached, something that was not analyzed or addressed in the previous regime.
I know its a mortal sin to point that out, but Josh can be top 5 QB material with some correction. Same thing with LaGarette.
May 27th, 2012 at 6:52 am
Still on record as saying the Bucs should’ve traded Benn to Denver for Tebow.
I’ll bet they would’ve taken winslodw for Tebow straight up.
May 27th, 2012 at 6:54 am
“Like I’ve said all along, Freeman is a mirror image of Tim Tebow. ”
This quote will be brought up later for fun.
May 27th, 2012 at 8:33 am
Let’s not get to carried away with this. I get that every Buc fan thinks this was the single worst season any QB has had at any level, but let’s all remember the following:
16th ranked passing attack (not 32nd)
3,500 plus yards in 15 games
62% plus completions (higher than 2010)
Team was top five in drops
They ran the offense through a guy not required to practice
Not clear if I should call Olsen’s work an offense
In reality, Free needs to not throw about 20 passes last year that were truly egregious mistakes. (Half to Winslow) Not out of the ordinary for anyone in their second full year as a starter.
May 27th, 2012 at 10:15 am
For a team that was behind by three touchdowns for most of the season, we should have been ranked #1 in passing yardage. Stats won’t cover up for a miserable performance.
May 27th, 2012 at 11:27 am
Don’t forget that Free really hasn’t had an offseason as the #1 guy yet either. Much like the situation with Blount, both have had success with limited time in the off-season for coaching. The off-season, for QBs, is when they work on things like mechanics. Free’s first year he was “3rd string” behind Leftwich/McCown and Josh Johnson (so basically 4th string for off-season). His second year was a lock-out where he lead team work-outs. How’s he supposed to work on his own mechanics without coaching? That was a big fear last year… that players were practicing AND making mistakes, so they were essentially practicing MAKING mistakes. Without coaches correction, the players basically are “learning” repeatedly how to make mistakes. Then that has to be coached out of them again. We should see huge improvement with ALL players this year… Free, Blount, Williams, Benn, GMC, Clay, Price, Foster, etc. They’re all getting off-season workouts WITH coaching.
May 27th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
BamBam, you are missing a year. Free is in year 4.
Free’s biggest problem comes in reading coverage and progressing through his reads. Fortunately, QBs tend to get better at that. He seems to have preconceived notions of where the defense will be and he tends to stare down and throw to his #1 or #2 read.
Free will often skip his reads and go straight to the back out of the backfield, especially with EG and Caddy when he was here. There was a lot of talk about him forcing it, but I think that was more his lack of reading the defense than it was purposely throwing into coverage.
The same problems Free had last year he has in 2010. He just had a WR that shut off half the field last year, in Benn, had another that slumped to start the year (Williams). And over time he lost confidence.
Also, defenses started figuring him out, big time starting with the San Fran game.
May 27th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
whoops, yeah, either way, he’s had 2 off-seasons of basically no coaching and probably took a big step backward last year “teaching himself” and not getting anything on his mechanics.
May 28th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
when we get a running game,freeman will be ok.