Josh Freeman Must Be Disciplined
June 25th, 2012
The 2011 season was a horror show for the Bucs. What started off as a promising season at 4-2 with two wins over playoff teams suddenly imploded into a grotesque 10-game losing streak to end the season.
The defense was particularly horrid, but perhaps no player had a worse season for the Bucs than the team’s most important player, the guy Bucs officials like to point to as being the franchise player, quarterback Josh Freeman.
Freeman’s play recently came under the flim microscope of Jaws, former Eagles quarterback and NFL resident quarterback guru Ron Jaworski, now of BSPN. Evan Silva of ProFootballTalk.com documented Jaworski’s breakdown of Freeman’s play last season.
According to ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski’s game-tape study, Freeman lost confidence, made poor decisions, and did not improve the finer points of his game.
“In 2011, Freeman threw four red-zone interceptions,” Jaws noted. “No quarterback threw more. It was part of a season in which Freeman took a step back. He struggled all year with his decision making. He tried to make too many throws that were not there.
“In addition, his ball location was not precise enough. Throws that you have to make became turnovers. Freeman has a lot of work to do. … I saw a lot of deficiencies that plague young quarterbacks. Poor decision making, lack of confidence. The physical talent is there, the consistency is not.”
Hhhmmm? So Freeman “tried to make too many throws that were not there,” eh? Smells to Joe like Kellen Winslow, no?
Jaws also noted he expects the Bucs to go heavy on play-action passes this season.
Of all the things wrong with the Bucs last year, righting Freeman may be the most important task of the New Schiano Order.
June 25th, 2012 at 10:32 am
I keep saying (and this is my opinion, not fact) that the primary reason that Freeman faltered last year was that he tried to do too much to get the team win, opposed to playing within the system (granted, the system wasn’t working too well anyways, so I can’t blame him for trying). I think that extends beyond the football field and also into the classroom and game prep. If Rah was fast and loose with his coaching style, odds are Olson and Van Pelt were as well, which leads me to think that Freeman wasn’t provided much guidance off the field, and again, tried to break everything down himself, which no 3rd year QB can do perfectly on their own. They need at least one other set of trained eyes looking at what they’re looking at, and making sure they’re seeing the right thing.
If I were a betting man, I would wager that Freeman will in fact turn things around this year, finishing with at least a 3:2 TD:INT Ratio, and 3-5 4th quarter comebacks. Granted the team may not have more than 6 wins total, but I don’t think that will fall on Freeman’s shoulders (even Peyton Manning lost a lot of games with scores like 31-35).
June 25th, 2012 at 11:56 am
“So Freeman “tried to make too many throws that were not there,” eh? Smells to Joe like Kellen Winslow, no?”
No. Freeman threw the ball, not Winslow.
June 25th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
That’s right, Freeman threw the ball. Freeman needs to learn to do a Nancy Reagan, and “Just Say No”
June 25th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Big year for Freeman.
I think he will thrive this year and make the leap to 2nd best QB in NFCS (behind Breesus).
June 25th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Try to blame it on Winslow as usual. I think if it was Winslow Jaws would have said Freeman tied to force it to Winslow when he tried to make throws that were not there.
I have said it before . Idiot has a brain of his own. Nobody put a GUN to his head to make him throw to anyone. HE made BAD decisions. He was the one with the gun and he pulled the trigger when he should have not have. This is how many outsiders that have looked a Freeman and said the same things? Poor machanics,bad decisions etc…
June 25th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Joe wrote: “Of all the things wrong with the Bucs last year, righting Freeman may be the most important task of the New Schiano Order.”
I would change that to read, “…righting Freeman IS the most important task of the New Shiano Order.”
Let’s be honest in 2010 Freeman won several games for the Bucs because the opposing teams were facing an unknown QB and confidence breeds confidence. In 2011 opposing teams had plenty of tape on Josh and knew how to get into his face and head. In addition failure breeds failure. Top that off with a teamful of poor attitude and 4-12 is the result.
Freeman is not going to be a Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Drew Brees. Without a running game to support him the play action that Joe wrote about will be as effective as last year.
Hopefully most of last year’s problems can be laid at OC feet as well as the defense being porous resulting in the Bucs playing catch-up ball. I don’t believe that Josh Freeman will ever return to the 2010 stats but then again I don’t see Freeman being as bad as his 2011 form either.