Peter King Scolds Josh Freeman
October 15th, 2012
Yes, it’s Monday, and that means the very first thing Joe read today — and every Monday of the calendar year — was the must-read piece for football fans of all ages, the words of cricket-loving, Marriott-sleeping, popcorn-munching Peter King of SI.com.
Though the Bucs won Sunday with a strong second half, after an ugly, offensive first half, King pointed out how Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman nearly set up Kansas City with a springboard for an upset with a ghastly interception.
2. I think this is what I didn’t like about Week 6:
a. Bad decision by Josh Freeman, throwing right to Justin Houston with the Bucs headed for a score in the first quarter.
It was a terrible interception and Joe’s groan at the play said it all. It wasn’t just a bad decision by Freeman, who for reasons unknown may not have seen Houston running towards targeted receiver Dallas Clark. Freeman simply floated the pass. Never mind that pass shouldn’t have been thrown to begin with, you can’t float a pass to the sidelines, especially in field goal range.
The Bucs were fortunate it wasn’t a pick-six.
Freeman was shaky in the first half, one-hopping a pass to an open Tiquan Underwood and, with enough time to make an appointment with a dentist, threw to a totally wide open Doug Martin roughly six-inches off the ground.
Freeman rallied in the second half, fortunately. For some reason, it seems Freeman has trouble with short passes. Long passes are in his wheelhouse. Joe can’t say if this is just a quirk in his control or bad footwork or what.
That written, Joe has confidence Mike Sullivan will right Freeman’s ship.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Long passes are in EVERYONE”S wheelhouse. There’s very little accuracy involved when you just heave it up. There’s a reason he doenst throw much to the TE, it requires a fair amount of accuracy. He had 1 very nice throw yesterday IMO, it was the post/slant TD to Vjax.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Indeed Freeman struggled at the beginning. To the point where a fellow commenter(Snook I believe) went so far to say “Brady Quinn is better than Freeman.
Luckily for Freeman, and all of our hearts, he got back on track in the second quarter and played well the rest of the game.
That defense though – I haven’t seen a Buccaneers run defense like that in ages. Passing rush really needs to pick up or we are gonna get burned next week.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:17 pm
Then again, the chiefs do have an extremely solid OL from left to right.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
He reminds me of a power pitcher learning to throw a change-up, it will come…
October 15th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
flmike:
Interesting.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:51 pm
I remember Doug Williams rearing back and throwing a bullet in the flat. I also remember his 60 yard passes. The out pass and the close range passes take time to develop.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
God awful Mock Draft Peter King?
2-14 Bucs prediction Peter King?
That one? K, just making sure. Suck it, Peter King.
October 15th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Pretty sure the Underwood one hopper was on Tiquan. Watch the replay.
October 15th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
jfro sux. bench him. the deep/hail mary passes are not to his credit. the recievers got those balls, the only good throw was the slant to Vjax.
bench him….if nothing else smack the “awww mannnn” look he gets everytime he screws up off his face….
October 15th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
@ Justin
I agree, that one was on Underwood. He immediately patted his chest as if to say “my bad” and Freeman gestured as if Underwood was supposed to do something different. Even Rich Gannon said something about Underwood taking too long to run the route and find the hole in the defense.
Either way I think, as usual, this negative pr!ck King is making a big deal out of nothing. Nobody was thrilled with the throw or the decision, but I would say Freeman mostly made up for it throughout the rest of the game. He’s finally trusting his arm and his WRs, and allowing them to go up and attack the ball, which is what they do best.
October 15th, 2012 at 3:25 pm
King looks as out of place as a w**** in church on that horse.
October 15th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
So he bashes Freeman but at this point in time EVERY QB int AFC is sucking wind. All of those teams are too except maybe the Texans an they got owned last night. How bout that Tony Blowmo wasting clock, no timeout and blowing another game? Joe Flaccid put up a whopping 9 pts on the Chiefs. I feel that it is okay for us Buc fans to call out Freeman but everyone else including King can lick a big one.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Freeman has good coaching. Over time it will begin to sink in. Ron Turner, despite many naysayers, also has many who swear by his ability to coach QBs. Mechanics improving, decision making improving. Those are the 2 big things. Underneath Josh’s calm exterior seem to be some jitters. Getting over those might just be a matter of time, consistent coaching, and patience. We can’t give up on this guy now. He also threw 3 TDs and has a good thing going with VJax and MiWi, and possibly even TUnd.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
That absolutely was Underwood’s fault. Just goes to show that not everything is on the QB. I notice that his timing with V-Jax on the intermediate routes is pretty darn good but that’s because Vincent runs good routes. When we get a TE that Freeman has good chemistry with then we’ll see more underneath routes being targeted. I disagree that the deep balls are the easiest ones to throw. They are the lowest percentage throw in football. Freeman has a very good touch on the deep ball. He’s starting to put it together. I like the way he came back from pick. It was a dumb throw but every QB in football makes dumb throws at times. He made up for it.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Bacon:
Really? Two years ago King beat out both Mike Mayock and Mel Kiper for accuracy.
Joe’s pretty sure King was right up there again this year. Might want to restart your research.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
LOL
October 15th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
If I’m not mistaking Josh long throws been against man coverage and prevent defense. I remember reading on JBF that Donald Penn n him joking abt the K.C man to man defense so that tell me Josh knew he have the WR that can go up and get the ball.Josh have problems when he doesn’t know what the defense are doing like blitzes and changing cover @ the snap of the ball,the one’s that make him think. K.C is the worst at giving up passing yards per game and Josh still rank 30th n TQBR with a 37.5 rating.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
LOL @ the freeman haterz …
October 15th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
LOL @ the one’s swang on free nut_ after one game
October 15th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Hey Joe that was autocorrect all the way. I didn’t notice until after I hit submit. Lol
October 15th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Mbaby,
Raphael has been attacking anyone who knows what they are talking about. Just continue to school him about football and he will go away eventually.
Fact is Freeman played exactly as he has been playing. Inconsistently. He can’t consistently make short and intermediate throws among other things. And like others have mentioned you can’t go out every week expecting jump balls to win the game for you. He still has a long way to go.
October 15th, 2012 at 5:16 pm
@ jbrooks your boyfriend don’t need you sticking up for him….Fact is Freeman will be a starter here for a long time….thankfully !
October 15th, 2012 at 5:17 pm
@jbrooks86o4 U are right.
October 15th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
nice one…what are you 13 yrs old ?
October 15th, 2012 at 6:24 pm
It’s not as if he just forgot how to throw short and intermediate throws. He’ll get the timing down soon. Just comes with the territory of having a brand new system.
October 15th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
@ Mbaby ..I wasn’t joking……your talking about peoples daughter bro…talkin smack is one thing, that is another..
October 15th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
@bucyea The long ball is juts heaving it up there? Not really. There is timing an accuracy involved in the long ball.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:37 pm
I think we’re in decent shape right now at 2-3. Packers are 3-3 same as the year they won the Superbowl. The Bucs need to beat the Aints and then get on a roll. I think this defense is getting better even without Clayborn. Personally, I’d bring Bowers back if he is ready in a few weeks. Even the offense should continue to improve.
I see the Giants, Packers, 49’rs & Falcons as division winners. I think the Bucs are good enough for a wildcard if they can keep it together. My next WC pick would be Detroit. I think Dallas, Aints & Bears are all frauds. Too early to know but that’s what I see coming. Cards have QB issues and will implode. Everybody in the AFC sucks.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Hawks are good but Pete Carroll is a D-bag.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Josh has all the physical tools. Lets hope the man keeps it up and uses this as a corner turner performance.
Its time he grows up as the leader of the offense.
Very happy!
October 15th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Houseofbacon Says:
October 15th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
God awful Mock Draft Peter King?
2-14 Bucs prediction Peter King?
That one? K, just making sure. Suck it, Peter King.
______________________________________________
You forgot the best one, 2012 AFC west champion Kansas City Chiefs.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/09/04/nfl-division-predictions-2012-peter-king/index.html
October 15th, 2012 at 11:33 pm
Houseofbacon Says:
October 15th, 2012 at 2:56 pm
God awful Mock Draft Peter King?
2-14 Bucs prediction Peter King?
That one? K, just making sure. Suck it, Peter King.
______________________________________________
You forgot the best one, 2012 AFC west champion Kansas City Chiefs.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/09/04/nfl-division-predictions-2012-peter-king/index.html