Freeman Mastering Two Hands On The Ball
June 11th, 2012
Pressed to chat about Josh Freeman’s mechanics today, Bucs offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan identified two things No. 5 is working hard on this offseason: keeping two hands on the football and making off-balance throws.
There may be more the Bucs are working on with Freeman, but Sullivan was quite confident Freeman is showing marked improvement in those two areas.
“Sometimes there’s that bad twitch of taking that hand off, but we’re really trying to reinforce that over the course of the spring,” Sullivan said. “It’s one of those details where it’s so critical that we maintain posession of the ball. It’s all about the ball. And so that’s something that we’re continuing to focus on and he’s shown great improvement in that regard this spring.”
Sullivan went on to say he’s drilling Freeman a lot on off-balance throws because “it’s rare that quarterbacks have time to set that nice five-step drop.”
On that note, Sullivan downplayed the concern that Freeman has been throwing too much off his back foot, saying game circumstances don’t often make that possible.
June 11th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I think that our backup RB Blount should work on the same thing.
June 11th, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Throwing off balance?
June 11th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Man I love hockey. Nothing like seeing a ref (linesman) getting cross-checked in the mouth. I even like the fact that NFL should have all new refs this season. It’ll be nice to see all those cheating dirt bags go.
June 11th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
Eli said that Sullivan had several unique drills for making accurate, off-balance throws. Glad to hear Josh is doing well with these.
This bodes well!
June 11th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
@BigMacAttack………NFL and NBA both need new refs. They’re all dishonest.
June 11th, 2012 at 10:14 pm
I have to agree with coach Sulluvan about not all throws are texts book throws due to unpredictable pass protection. Finally some acknowledge that. Freeman for the most part got pressured in the middle to Left guard area all season long. The fact that we got Nicks and got rid of Faine just shows these guy really payed attention to the real problem that plague the offense from the start of last year preseason to the last game.
I just smh everytimes these same people that love Free the year before suddenly say he’s a bust or we need a new qb. Free is a good 3 year starter. To accomplish what he had in such a short time is very encouraging. His qb rating was mention with the like of Brees and Brady the year before is enough to wonder what he will be like years later in his career. Freeman is a steal. He’s better than Sanchez and maybe better than Stanfford since free didn’t have one of the best WR in the league to bail him out. Plus I just love his work ethic. Hardwork can’t be taught until too late. He have that drive to be the best.
June 11th, 2012 at 11:27 pm
@Patrick Ever see an Umpire call balls and strikes When CC Sab. throws’em?
@Red I do like Free too but no way in Hell can u blame everything on the other players. Last year, Free either from confidence or indecision held onto the ball when he should have thrown. I DEF. remember one of the 1st couple home games we were driving and he threw to the Traded TE but he threw it about 1.5 seconds too late..This happened the whole year. Yes the line wasn’t awesome but for having two probowlers before Hicks came to the team you can’t say the line wasn’t good…That’s silly. (Not saying you said that)
I think the year before when he played well, he wasn’t over thinking. He just called the play and threw the ball. This past year he was overthinking trying to find the right play. Now he did, just like everyone else, didn’t get an offseason. And that is tough.
Plain and simple: He needs to be more confident and quick with his decisions.
This is another HUGE reason why I LOVE the new coach! There will be a ton of running and running and running and then some play action pass (which leads to easy decisions and easy throws.
Josh needs this. Bucs need this. I, the, 2nd year “CHEAP SEATS” season ticket holder.
June 11th, 2012 at 11:30 pm
…need this.
June 12th, 2012 at 12:19 am
Freeman should be fine this year.. im predicting 24TD, 10INT, 3,700yrds, 9-7.. may not b a playoff year but i think this team has da potential to go 10-6 or even 11-5.. i see a dangerous team if everything goes according to plan
June 12th, 2012 at 7:47 am
All i know is…..This should be the best offense we’ve ever had. No more excuses for the players b/c the pieces are in place. It’ll be nice to see the Bucs with an actual NFL Offense
June 12th, 2012 at 9:32 am
I’m hopeful for a surprisingly good playoff run…but to not expect at least one season of development is ignorant.
All of the players are being taught not to make mistakes at this point. They have not even begun to learn schemes. So to say this will be the best offense THIS year is expecting to much. Hope for it. Don’t expect it.
Staford has had one good year…it’s too early to say which.of those three QBs is the best. Each has only had one good year. I’m not sold that Sanchez is bad yet.
But if anyone can turn Freeman into the best it’s Sullivan.
June 12th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
So nice to see you DO compare QB and RB fumbles. (some great coach here said you don’t). After all if they didn’t they would not worry about Freeman. Guess that’s why they are teaching Freeman to use two hands to hold on to the ball. A fumble is a fumble no matter who does it.