Freeman Turned Halloween Ugly Into Beautiful
October 15th, 2012
How frightening was the Bucs offense in the first half yesterday? Bradenton Herald columnist Alan Dell suggests it was too unnerving for innocent children to witness; they would have been better off being frightened out of their pants by the local ghouls and goblins who will soon knock on their front doors, and by living-room ambushes of TV commericals warning of the coming annual plague of the non-basketball association.
Dell, however, also marveled at how Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman turned from homely to Cinderella in the second half.
As he has often done this season, Freeman lost his GPS, couldn’t find his receivers and then just forgot about them. Outside of Williams’ TD catch, he completed 4 of 12 passes for 60 yards in the first half.
But Freeman is a smart guy and knows if he wants to remain the Bucs quarterback in the future he needs to take advantage of the talented receiving corps he has at his disposal — weapons such as Williams and Vincent Jackson are precious commodities and Tiquan Underwood, the man Bucs’ head coach Greg Schiano cut not too long ago, is a nice security blanket.
They did a lot to earn a free dinner from their quarterback with big yardage after catches and circus catches.
It sounds simple, almost in a mocking way, to say Freeman should just throw the ball up and let his receivers make plays. The NFL is not backyard football. There’s a little more complexity than just that.
If anything, working with a new coaching staff, a new playbook and a new offense, Freeman needs confidence most of all.
Joe is hopeful the second half yesterday, and the numbers Freeman put up, will buoy his psyche.
October 15th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
I am excited about Freeman and our future.. Coach Shiano has us going in the right direction…
October 15th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
After watching the first half I can’t put it all on Josh. Most of his incompletions were either drops or just throw aways. Stats can be misleading. After watching Underwood pointing to himself saying “My fault” when the ball one hopped to him it let me know certain routes are not getting run properly. When you see Josh zip one in there on an intermediate route it’s usually to V-Jax and it looks really crisp and precise. A lot of that has to do with the route running. I’m seen Josh look bad (Dallas game) but I thought he put things together against KC.
October 15th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
@ bobby..Agreed ..I thought he looked good against Giants and Panthers.
October 15th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
I think it’s bullsh!t that people keep dumping on Freeman. For the first time ever he is getting coached in the pro’s, he has a new offense and new personnel. At the VERY minimum he should be given half a season before we question his skills. Prior to this year most of us were saying give him a year with a new staff, offense, blah, blah…and after 2-3 games everyone wants to hang him. Pathetic really.
October 15th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Last time I checked WR’s and QB’s are supposed to make each other look good…that’s how it works. There are no style points in the NFL, only wins and losses. Stats aren’t for losers as our past coach would say, but they don’t always tell the whole story either.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I agree with Bucsfanjeff! Give Freeman some time to become more comfortable, and he is gonna be just fine!
I went and visited the Kansas City Chiefs Blogs, and it was very interesting to listen to posters there saying they WISH they had a QB like Freeman.
Of course, it was a team effort for Tampa to get the win. But there is no denial from the KC Chief Fans. They admit, Josh Freeman and our big receivers beat them.
It took Eli Manning 6 years to get to where he is today. Freeman is showing improvement, and IMHO is gonna be just fine.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Dell is a fringe observer at best. He writes articles without even watching the subject. He is a hack.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
I had a thought (hard to believe, I know) earlier today– the Chiefs game was what we heard was coming this season, back in August: run the ball & throw deep; no West Coast stuff.
Those long passes, esp. when actually completed, will have defenses playing seven-man fronts, & ergo! the run will get easier.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
AGREED ! ^^^^^
October 15th, 2012 at 7:40 pm
I’ll admit to bashing Freeman unfairly and I should have been smart enough to give him more time. As a fan it’s hard to put the emotions on hold when your team is losing. I believe in the future and will keep my emotions in check when they lose and believe in the promises the future may hold.
I believe and individuals like Miguel will not sway my belief. GO BUC’s!!!
October 15th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
I agree with Mike J
Freeman is a 20+ yard type of passer. Obviously he needs to be able to throw the short/intermediate routes, but all in all it’s a spread O that throws deep.
October 15th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
That deep pass to Mike Williams opened up the running game and underneath routes. The rest of the deep passes will make other team play two deep safeties and leave 6-7 in the box. This favors the run game and short passing game, which in turn favors the deep passing game.
If we could have established the run sooner, those deep passes would have clicked sooner. If we could have established the deep pass sooner, the run game would have clicked sooner. Either way, if the same performance is played against the Saints, it will establish a model for future teams to not hog the line of scrimmage. With good play calling and Freeman calling audibles, we can exploit this just as Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Manning, and the rest of the solid QBs in the league do.
Even if Freeman isn’t the most accurate in intermediate routes, yesterday should open up much more short game and allow us to run.
October 15th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
I can’t blame the QB when I see no holes for a RB to run through, lack of pass protection, receivers not getting open and most importantly (going back to last year) a defense letting the other team light up the scoreboard. Interesting that Freeman had more of those things in 2010 and none of them in 2011 and we wonder which is the *real* Freeman.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I thought Freeman played very well. KC doesn’t have a terrible defense at all. They held Baltimore without a TD last week. They have good corners, but our WR ate them up, and Freeman made the throws. I loved the play calling, and I loved how Freeman drove the ball down the field. He got great protection, and he even stepped up in the pocket a couple times (which I haven’t seen him do much this season). Perhaps the bye week really helped him correct his mistakes and get a better feel of the offense. Not to mention the Washington second half helped his confidence. He has to be feeling pretty good right now, which he will need against New Orleans. We aren’t stopping Brees, so he’s going to have to have a big game for us to win, especially with them coming off a bye week.
October 16th, 2012 at 4:19 am
Freeman threw ONE outstanding pass, PERIOD! I guess we should give him more time, another four years, my GOD.
October 16th, 2012 at 5:42 am
So you judge a QB by how many “outstanding” passes he throws? Throwing for 328 doesn’t satisfy you? So I guess you feel that if the receiver makes a great play, then the throw doesn’t count for the QB? Interesting theory. I don’t even understand the point of your post. Is anyone hear putting him in Canton? He played well, we won, be happy. Stop nit picking about stupid stuff, because it really makes you look bad.